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OUR HIDDEN FORCES 





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Our Hidden Forces 

("LA PSYCHOLOGIE INCONNUE") / ^ ^_^ 

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE 
PSYCHIC SCIENCES 

BY 

EMILE BOIRAC 

SECTOR OF THE ACADEMY AT DHON 
TRANSLATED AND EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

W. DE KERLOR 

ILLUSTRATED 




NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 






Copyright, 1917, by 
Fbedebick a. Stokes Company 



All rights reserved 



f^ 



n 



MAY -2 1917 

©CIA460543 



TO 

THE MEMORY OF THE MUCH REGEElTED 

DR. DUMONTPALLIER 

MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF MEDICIKE 
PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF HYPNOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 

AS A TOKEN OF GRATEFULNESS AND RESPECT 



TEA]N"SLATOE'S I^OTE 

While making a series of investigations into the 
psychological libraries attached to the psychological de- 
partments of various universities in the United States, 
I was able to realize how fully German mechanical 
efficiency has gained a footing on this side of the water. 
Out of an average of 600 books, one third of those I / 
examined were written in German, one third were 
translated from the German, and the remaining third 
were from the pen of German- Americans or were writ- 
ten by Americans trained in the German schools of 
thought. Only a very small — infinitely small — ^propor- 
tion were French, English, or Italian works (translated 
or in the original). 

Why have not France, England, and Italy as sys- 
tematically introduced their philosophical and psycho- 
logical productions? Why have not the Bergsons, the 
William Crookes, Gustave Le Bon, Pierre Janet, Richet, 
Ribot, Payot, Grasset, Le Dantec, Bernard, Binet, 
Fouillee, Finot, Sir Oliver Lodge, Lombroso, Schia- 
parelli, Morselli, Varisco, Salvadori, etc., etc., found 
their way to the shelves of psychological laboratory 
libraries in the United States ? 

Why is it that in spite of the friendly attitude of the 
majority of American university professors toward 
France and French learning, German concepts and Ger- 

vii 



viii TKANSLATOK'S NOTE 

man teachings have gained such a hold on the intel- 
lectual life of American youth? What of the finer, 
subtler, more refined, life- and happiness-giving French 
psychology ? Hardly anything of it is known in Amer- 
ica or taught to the students here in medicine, applied 
psychology, or art. 

It is, therefore, time that the more advanced strides 
taken by French psychologists be brought to the knowl- 
edge of the virile-thinking youth of America. 

Already there have been held in Paris, in the years 
1910 and 1913, two International Congresses of Ex- 
perimental Psychology, over each of which presided 
M. Elmile Boirac, the author of this remarkable book. 

Professor Boirac, Rector of the Academy of Dijon, 
had already, years before the appearance of this volume, 
achieved fame and fortune as a professor of philosophy 
and psychology. And when the Academie des Sciences 
of Paris decided to award him the prize endowment 
^Tanny Emden" it was but the crowning of a career 
spent in devotion to the quest of more knowledge regard- 
ing the problems of Life and Death, and the Hidden 
Forces in Man. 

These problems, of mighty import at all times, are 
particularly so now. 

''What has become of the souls of the millions of men 
killed on the battlefields of Europe since IQlJ^f' said 
Professor Morselli, of the University of Genoa, Italy, 
when I was on a visit to him in March, 1915. 

This problem should be solved now ! 

Psychical research as contrasted with psycho-physio- 
logical experimentation has languished in America not- 



TEANSLATOK'S I^TOTE ix 

withstanding the efforts of William James, Rojce, and 
Hyslop to give it a hearing, in an endeavor to keep pace 
with the researchers of England, France, and Italy in 
their laudable attempt to give humankind a scientific 
basis for religion and spiritual life. 

For it is undeniable that as psychology enables us to 
solve the problems concerning the mechanism of mind, 
so psychical research will lead us to the discovery of 
the functions of the soul in its relation to mind and 
matter. 

When Science shall have solved these vital questions 
she will then turn to transcendental metaphysics for the 
purpose of giving mankind a solution to the problems 
concerning the knowledge of God- — God in all His mani- 
festations: spiritual, psychic, mental, and physical, in 
and without man. 

To-day the science concerning the knowledge of man 
is in its infancy only. It has just been born. Hitherto 
it has been kept relegated to medieval and ancient 
authors or to the non-scientific. But to-day scientists 
the world over are slowly waking to its importance in 
human affairs. They recognize that society, and youth 
and industry, demand a different treatment from that 
which they have received hitherto; and that this treat- 
ment must depend upon the soul-v/nderstanding of the 
individual unit: Man. 

At the very source of America's life and efficiency 
lie her psychological laboratories and libraries pertain- 
ing to the study of man's mind and soul. These li- 
braries are filled with books of German origin or Ger- 
man influence. Yet German thought has been bent 



X TRANSLATOE^S NOTE 

solely upon problems of mechanical and material ef- 
ficiency, while France has devoted herself to the study 
of soul-understanding. 

When the Academie des Sciences decided to award 
two thousand francs as encouragement to Professor 
£mile Boirac it did so in the full consciousness of what 
that meant to the outside world and in particular to the 
general public. 

It gave psychical research its passport to travel freely 
on the road to Scientific Progress. 

The moral shock I received when first landing on 
these shores — a shock caused by the attitude of a scoff- 
ing press, the indifferent attitude of prejudiced college 
professors, and the hysterical, non-scientific attitude of 
a public always preyed upon by charlatans and hum- 
bugs — led me to the translation of this important work, 
La Psychologie Inconnue. 

For having made the translation possible, I tender 
my sincerest thanks to the publishers for the kind and 
sympathetic hearing they gave me in August, 1916. 

From the many signs of interest which I already have 
seen in the American public, during various public 
activities in the presentation of this new method of 
experimental psychology, I do not hesitate a moment 
to predict for Our Hidden Forces a most hearty and 
welcome reception. 

In anticipation of this, I extend my heartfelt thanks 
to the American public, the press, and the academical 
bodies; for I know that only through their cooperation 
and through perfect harmony can success be achieved 
and the progress of human knowledge be advanced. 



TKANSLATOE'S NOTE xi 

In the process of translation I have thought it ad- 
visable to condense certain portions of the work which 
contain repetitions due to the exact reproduction in the 
French version of material that had been independently 
published in several French periodicals. 

This translation is offered in the hope that we may 
see in America a new impetus to the scientific study and 
solution of such important problems as those offered by 
the presence of Hidden Forces in man, around man, 
above and helow man. 

W. DE Keelor. 

681 Fifth Avenue, 
New York City, 
April, 1917. 



r 



PKEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION^ 

The report presented to the Academie des Sciences de 
Paris by the Commission Board of the prize endowment 
^'Eanny Emden" is given here in full. This biennial 
prize of three thousand francs was founded by Mademoi- 
selle Juliette de Keinach in memory of her mother, nee 
.Fanny Emden, its object being to reward "the best work 
on suggestion, hypnotism, and physiological actions 
likely to be exerted from a distance upon the human 
organism in general." 

The Commission Board, composed of MM. Bouchard, 
Guyon, Perrier, d'Arsonval, Lannelongue, Laveran, 
Dastre, and Delage acting as secretary, reported as 
follows : 

"From among the numerous contributions presented 
to the examining commission board for competition, 
two only were selected as meeting the requirements and 
therefore elected to receive the reward. 

"The conmaission allots the sum of two thousand 

francs to M. fimile Boirac and one thousand francs, as 

consolation prize, '^'d titre d^ encouragement/' to M. 

Ochorowicz. 

"In his work. La Suggestion Mentale,^ M. Ochorowicz 

* La Suggestion mentale, Dr. Ochorowicz : Paris, 1887. 

xiii 



xiv PREFACE TO THE SECOISTD EDITION 

explains that after having absolutely denied this form 
of suggestion, on account of the insufficiency of the argu- 
ments and of the experiments conducted to demonstrate 
its existence, he finally reached the stage, following a 
series of personal observations and experiments of a 
most demonstrative order, when disbelief was no longer 
possible. 

^' These numerous experiments are often replete with 
interest ; but it has not appeared to us that the control 
was of a sufficiently rigorous order thoroughly to con- 
vince, in spite of the evident sincerity and worthy ef- 
forts of the author to eliminate all sources of error. 
However, although his theories are not free from con- 
fusion and other defects, his work remains une ceuvre 
magistrale, a masterpiece, which coming generations en- 
gaged on similar lines of study will do well to consult. 

"M. [fimile Boirac,in his La Psychologie inconnue, has 
made a laudable attempt, in the greater part crowned 
with success, to classify systematically and in their re- 
spective order the phenomena of the unknown in 
psychology, which he divides into hypnoidal, magne- 
toidal and spiritoidal phenomena. Unfortunately, in 
that part of his work are to be felt the habits of thought 
of the professional philosopher, who is inclined to solve 
these problems by purely logical arguments rather than 
by experimental control. 

*'In the experimental portion of his work, the author 
displays a conscientious desire to employ only those 
methods that are above reproach. He does his very best 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIOIST xv 

to prevent the dictation to his subjects of replies which 
may be conveyed to him by involuntary suggestion. 
But, to our thinking, that is not sufficient. It is not 
enough to have experimented successfully, alone, with 
one's usual entourage, or even in the presence of people 
who are only too willing to be convinced of the reality 
of phenomena whose physical and physiological condi- 
tions are contrary to the natural scientific order of 
things. It is absolutely necessary, if it be desired that 
these be definitely accepted by Science, to have the ex- 
periments controlled by scientists, savants (physiolo- 
gists, medical men), who, by profession, are acquainted 
with the exacting conditions under which such experi- 
ments should be conducted; that any conditions which 
it pleases them to impose upon the experimenters should 
be accepted; and that all their objections should in some 
way be met. 

'^We will give two examples of M. Boirac's experi- 
ments : 

''First experiment. From a distance of eight or ten 
yards: If the finger-tips of the outstretched hand are 
placed before the subject, whose eyes are blindfolded 
and around whom reigns the most complete silence, it 
will be found that, in the case of the right hand, move- 
ments of attraction toward the hand will be obtained; 
in the case of the left hand, a tingli^ng or pricking sensa- 
tion will be produced. 

''Second experiment: Operator and subject have each 
held a glass filled with water. The two glasses are 



xvi PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

placed side by side, but the operator and the subject are 
separated, standing at the opposite extremities of the 
same room. The subject, it is understood, is blind- 
folded, and the most rigorous silence is imposed upon 
the assistants. If, now, the operator is pricked, pinched, 
or hit, the subject will remain unconscious of such action 
upon the operator. If, however, the two glasses are 
made to communicate with each other by means of a 
metallic wire having an end plunged into each glass, 
the blindfolded subject will at once resent the various 
pains inflicted upon the operator. 

"The natural conclusion drawn from this is that each 
of the two glasses retained the exteriorized or dissociated 
sensitiveness, or nerve force, derived from operator and 
subject alike while being held in their hands. 

''Had M. Boirac succeeded in rendering such experi- 
ments incontestable to the most skeptical of scientists, 
he would have deserved much greater things than the 
prize itself, part of which we award him by way of en- 
couragement. 

''The Academie adopts the conclusions of this re- 
port." 

The fact that the Academie des Sciences accepted a 
prize endowment to reward — and thereby encourage — 
research pertaining to hypnotism, suggestion, and 
"physiological actions likely to be exerted from a dis- 
tance upon the human organism'' is extremely important 
for the future of Psychical Research. Too well known 






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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xvii 

indeed is tlie professed skepticism of the great majority 
of scientists in regard to psychical phenomena. At 
most, they consent to recognize the reality of hypnotism, 
the importance of which seems to them singularly ex- 
aggerated by those who first of all studied its phe- 
nomena. The Academie des Sciences, therefore, haa 
shown real courage and broadmindedness in accepting 
the Fanny Emden prize endowment and thus giving its 
consent — if indirectly so — to the study of a certain or- 
der of facts which, side by side with hypnotism and sug- 
gestion, may be recognized under a new formula as the 
ancient theories of Mesmer and Puysegur. This is all 
the more remarkable in view of the fact that the savants 
of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries believed 
they had irretrievably buried it, conjointly with the 
"fourth dimension" and "perpetual motion." 

In any case, the author is deeply grateful to the 
Academie and to the secretary of the Commission Board 
for the favorable judgment which they have been willing 
to pass upon his work. La Psychologie inconnue. 

The author wishes to take this opportunity, also, to 
express his gratitude to the founder of the prize, whose 
enlightened initiative, let us hope, may conduce to 
higher achievements and contribute to the progress of 
the New Science. 

It may be regretted that the Commission was not bold 
enough to take a more decisive position. It seems as if 
it feared that if it were to bestow the full prize, it 



xviii PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 

might be suspected of admitting the reality of psychic 
phenomena, while at the same time appearing to give a 
premature official sanction to the research having these 
phenomena as its objective. 

It could not be expected that such savants, who had 
not been acquainted with the phenomena except by hear- 
say, and whose competence in such matters is on a par 
with that of the ordinary layman, could scatter at a blow 
the traditional skepticism concerning them. It is no 
doubt for this reason that the Academie remained pru- 
dently content to choose from the thirteen competitive 
works ^ those in which were to be traced something of 
the spirit and methods of the positive sciences. 

I will admit frankly that I do not believe that I de- 
served the reproach made by the secretary of the Com- 
mission when he stated that in my work were ^^to be 
felt the habits of thought of the professional philosopher, 

' Herewith is a list of the contributions sent by competitors for 
the Fanny Emden prize. Judging by their titles and scope, they 
should not remain without interest and value. 

Le role des infiniment petits dans Vunivers, Charnay; La sug- 
gestion mentale et faction a distance des substances and La sug- 
gestion mentale et les variations de la personalite, Bourru and 
Burot; Hypnose et hypnotisme and La machine humaine, Vial; 
Eypnotisme et magnetisme, Filiatre; La psychologic inconnue, 
Boirac; La genese des miracles, F. Regnault; Hypnotisme et 
mesmerisme (dans le dictionnaire de Ch. Eichel) and La sugges- 
tion mentale, Ochorowicz; De I 'autosuggestion, Croue; Essai sur 
I'etiologie de Vhypnose, Gaston Durville; Contribution a I' etude 
des sciences psychiques, Th. Darel; L'electricite dans les actes 
physiologiques, Mme. M. Bertrand de Yrondeau; Des actions 
physiologiques qui pourraient etre exercees a distance sur Vor- 
ganisme animal, J. Gaubert; El Ktdb, Desjardins de Eegla. 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOJS^D EDITIOIST xix 

who is inclined to solve these problems by purely logical 
arguments rather than by experimental control." 

This criticism appears to have been directed to the 
first part of my book, the theoretical portion in v^rhich I 
treat of the principles, method, and classification of the 
psychical sciences — in a word, of that which treats of 
the philosophy of these sciences ; for he recognizes that 
"in the experimental portion of his work the author dis- 
plays a conscientious desire to employ only those 
methods that are above reproach/' 

In view of this, is it, after all, justifiable to condemn 
the use of the philosophical spirit in a philosophical 
discussion, provided that the scientific spirit preside 
over the experimental investigation ? 

I^either in the first nor in the second part of the book 
do I pretend to have solved any problem. My sole aim 
has been to show that : There are many problems await- 
ing solution ; these problems consist of irrefutable facts ; 
these facts cannot be evaded by "a priori" arguments; 
the problems should be solved by having recourse con- 
stantly to the facts themselves. 

On the contrary, it would seem that the thought re- 
curring on almost every page is that, in this order of 
research — as in every other field of natural and physical 
science — ^theories, hypotheses, and other purely logical 
inferences are of no value. They owe their validity to 
a twofold condition: first, of being suggested by the 
facts themselves ; second and more important, of ren- 
dering experiments possible and of serving to discover 



XX PKEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIOIST 

new facts which control them. Even in this latter case 
their value is always conditional ; in other words, it is 
subject to being modified or nullified by the appearance 
of new facts. 

It would, then, be very difficult to see in such a doc- 
trine ^ ^habits of thought of the professional philosopher, 
who is inclined to solve problems by purely logical argu- 
ments rather than by experimental control." 

As to the second objection, I can but plead attenuat- 
ing circumstances. It is true that I have not taken the 
precaution to have my experiments controlled by a com- 
mission formed of professional scientists especially as- 
sembled for that purpose, and that I have experimented 
mostly either alone or in the company of three or four 
assistants, or else in the presence of a limited number 
of persons; but it would have been impossible to say 
of what these persons expected to be persuaded, for 
none of our experimental sittings was ever preceded or 
followed by any explanation of the phenomena. 

A few of the sittings were certainly conducted in the 
presence of a professor of physics in a preparatory col- 
lege of Paris and of a Bachelor of Science. But this, 
of course, is not sufficient to give experimental sittings 
the indubitable scientific character. However, one must 
take into consideration the fact that it is not easy to 
find savants willing to trouble themselves to come to our 
sittings for the purpose of controlling certain phe- 
nomena, the very nature of which they do not under- 
stand. This has been our experience: A certain man 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xxi 

who was a great master in the science of hypnotism, a 
professor and a medical practitioner, when implored 
to come and control our experiments bearing upon the 
action of the hand at a distance, replied : "... abso^ 
lutelj refuse to experiment in any place but a laboratory 
or a clinic . . . any other way cannot be of scientific 
value. ..." ! ! ! (Our experiments were being con- 
ducted in a private house.) 

To our mind, it seems that as long as such a strange 
and unwarrantable attitude of mind persists, progress 
in the realms of psychic science will be seriously handi- 
capped. 

If, as stated by the Commission reporter, Psychical 
Science be " . . . strewn with an enormous amount of 
experiments which would be of capital value were they 
demonstrated but which, failing this, lend themselves 
to the most serious objections . . . '' the principal cause 
rests, without a doubt, in this lack of organization, which 
permits those scientists to hold themselves aloof from 
every effective attempt at research. They systematically 
refuse to enter into relation with extra-scientific re- 
searchers; or, when they do consent, they oppose them 
with objections often conceived a priori, therefore sterile 
because without rapport with the crucial experiments. 
Furthermore, if the experiment happens to be negative, 
they remain firmly skeptical ; when it is positive, it dis- 
concerts and astonishes them, without, however, either 
convincing them or triumphing over their prejudiced 
attitude of abstention. 



xxii PREFACE TO THE SECOE-D EDITIOltT 

It should be understood, once and for all, tliat if 
the psychic phenomena be real, they are neither miracles 
nor accidents. They form an integral part of the en- 
semble of nature and constitute a coherent whole, subject 
to their own proper laws while at the same time being 
subject to the general laws regulating every other natu- 
ral phenomenon. They should, therefore, be considered 
as belonging to one or more series in which each of 
them finds its own place and its own signification. And 
all the efforts of the scientist who studies them should 
bear upon the analysis of the series, so that he may be 
in a position to discover the various terms and the vari- 
ous rapports which unite them, one to the other. 

Instead of proclaiming upon the housetops of preju- 
diced ignorance : "l^ever have psychic phenomena been 
capable of scientific verification !'' ^ the true solution 
could be found in the establishment of numerous centers 
of research throughout the civilized world — institutes 
and laboratories where researchers who are specially 
trained into scientific and philosophical discipline, and 
accorded the same respect by other scientists as is given 
to physicians, chemists, and physiologists, could devote 
themselves exclusively to the exploration of the psychical 
field in its widest sense, and where they could check each 
other constantly. 

JSTevertheless, if one may consider the report of the 
Academie des Sciences as constituting a tacit agree- 

'From Dr. Husson's report of the experiments of control of 
William Crookes in the case of D. D. Home 's phenomena, etc., etc. 



PEEFACE TO THE SECOISTD EDITION^ xxiii 

ment on its part to lend itself in tlie future to the regular 
and impartial examination of all the facts under this 
head, can we not see therein the first step toward the 
consecration and the scientific organization which, alone, 
will make possible the sure and gradual conquest of these 
unknown regions, vast and obscure, into which Science 
still hesitates to venture ? 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Translator's Note vii 

Preface xiii 

Introduction 1 

I. The Cryptoidal Phenomena .... 17 

II. Thought: the Hidden Force .... 44 

III. Animal Magnetism in the Light of New 

Investigations 79 

IV. Our Own Subliminal Powers .... 108 

V. Psychology of the Future : Parapsychical 

Phenomena 122 

VI. New Experimental Method IN Hypnology 144 

VII. Mesmerism and Suggestion .... 152 

VIII. The Provocation of Sleep at a Distance 167 

IX. Telepathy 178 

X. The Relation of Telepathy to Human 

Magnetism 188 

XI. Apparent Transposition of the Senses . 196 

XII. The Colors of Human Magnetism . . 212 

XIII. Strange Phenomena 225 

XIV. Exteriorization: or Dissociation of the 

Motor Nerve Force 229 

XV. The Scientific Study of Spiritism . . 234 

XVI. Human Radiations 248 

XVII. The Conductibility of Psychic Force . 260 



OUR HIDDEN FORCES 



OUR HIDDEN FORCES 



Introduction 

All the chapters of this book have been compiled 
during the period extending from 1893 to 1903. Cer- 
tain parts here and there which already had appeared 
in various periodicals ^ dealing with these subjects have 
been reedited and completed. 

It is thanks to the suggestions of the late Dr. Dumont- 
pallier, who always expressed the desire to see the vari- 
ous published and scattered reports of our work bound 
under one single cover, that we owe the existence of the 
present volume in its finished state. 

And to his undying memory we respectfully dedi- 
cate it. 

The question which we have endeavored to answer 
in these pages is this: ^'Is it possible to study scien- 
tifically the ensemble of those phenomena which are so 
inappropriately called psychic phenomena V^ The mo- 
tive force which imbued our pen with the courage to 
brave public ridicule and academic criticisms has been 
found in the more encouraging, less prejudiced attitude 

^ Bevue pMlosopMque, Bevue scientifique, Bevue de Vliypnotisme, 
Annates des sciences psycMques, Nouvelle revue, etc. 

1 



2 I]^TRODUCTIO]Sr 

of scientists, in contradistinction to their confreres of 
the past century. 

However profuse and extensive may be the evidence 
for psychic phenomena, the conditions in v^hich the pur- 
suit of this study has to be conducted still remain to be 
defined. The right method has yet to be devised. 
Psychic phenomena, independently of their mysterious 
character and appearance, are most complicated and 
varied in nature. They are as a labyrinth wherein one 
may enter through a thousand different gates and be 
lost in a very short time, unless the right path has been 
followed, not part of the time but all of the time. 

Therefore, the first problem to solve is that of the 
order in which the study of these phenomena has to be 
conducted. For that reason, having once defined and 
characterized them, we have given them the present 
classification. 

It will be seen that the classification of these phe- 
nomena follows a progressive gradation, according to 
their complexity and increasing importance. In this 
manner the knowledge of the first becomes the indis- 
pensable condition and efficacious instrument in the 
study of the second. In the scale of Psychic Phenomena 
we find three principal stages of gradation : 

1. Eypnoidal phenomena, which as yet do not imply 
the hypothesis of an agent still unknown, nor of causes 
quite distinct from those already known to Science, al- 
though being capable of explanation through agents al- 



II^TEODUCTIOlSr 3 

ready known, causes already admitted, and operating 
solely in conditions still new or imperfectly defined. 

To this first group belong the phenomena of hyp^ 
notism and suggestion. 

Let us say, here, that the scientists of the Eighteenth 
Century denied their existence ; those of the E'ineteenth 
gradually came to study them; and those of the Twen- 
tieth Century consider them as absolutely scientific. 

In a word, these phenomena belong to what Dr. 
Grasset defines in his book as ^^the occultism of yester- 
day." 2 

2. Magnetoidal phenomena. These seem to imply 
the hypothesis of causes still unhnown, not yet classified, 
though still physical in nature. They are analogous to 
forces known in physics, as light, heat, electricity, mag- 
netism, etc. 

In this stage are included all the phenomena of animal 
magnetism and of telepathy; at least, as far as they re^ 
main distinct from the phenomena of hypnotism and 
suggestion. 

3. Spirit oidal phenomena, which seem to imply the 
hypothesis of agents still unknown, but, this time, of a 
psychological nature. They are those phenomena more 
or less analogous in nature to that of human intelli- 
gences ; perhaps situated outside the realm of our every- 
day world and on a plane of reality outside that in 
which we have our being. Under this heading are in- 
cluded all the so-called phenomena of spiritualism as 

^L'Occultis'me d'hier et d'aujourd^hui, Dr. Grasset, Paris, 1907. 



4 INTEODUCTIOK 

far as they themselves remain distinct from the above- 
mentioned classifications. 

It is well to repeat that Science has, to-day, fully 
mastered the problems presented in the first classifica- 
tion, and should in a measure be ready to grapple with 
the other two ; for, as most of the phenomena of the first 
are to be found again in the second and third, the great 
difficulty lies in determining precisely the proportion 
of the former to the latter. 

One of the main causes responsible for the slow 
progress made in this order of things by ^'official science" 
is that among the men who have approached the sub- 
ject, some limited their efforts to the theoretical study 
of the phenomena of the first group, neglecting personal 
experimentation and ignoring the phenomena of the 
other groups; other men, deprived of scientific knowl- 
edge and of scientific discipline, who were no doubt in 
the possession of a multitude of data belonging to the 
second and third category — which they had personally 
obtained through experimentation — failed to accord to 
these the right proportion of phenomena belonging to 
the first class. ISTo collaboration existed between the 
scientist proper and the spiritualist, mesmerist, occultist. 

Happily the attention of certain scientists has been 
called to the various phenomena of telepathy and spirit- 
ism, and, in a more general way, the scientific world 
begins to admit that there is some serious ground for 
research in the study of these phenomena. The time is, 



i:n^teoductio¥ 5 

therefore, quite near when official Science shall take 
full possession of this field, hitherto forbidden her, and 
when her methods will be applied to it with the max- 
imum efficiency. 

Unfortunately, it seems to us that the first steps taken 
in that direction are not properly oriented. The main 
problem is that of studying those phenomena tending to 
baffle the imagination, while mystifying it. On the one 
hand are the spiritoidal phenomena in their various 
forms, as described by Sir William Crookes, de Rochas, 
Dr. Richet, etc. ; on the other hand, the magnetoidal 
phenomena, the mechanism of which is more obscure, 
more complex, as instanced by telepathy presented in its 
various forms by the reports of the Psychical Societies 
of both continents. 

As these phenomena present the common characteris- 
tic of being "spontaneous," they may well be observed 
when opportunity presents itself; but they cannot be 
provoked at will, nor modified to any extent, and thereby 
they evade experimentation. 

In the face of this, we would compare the position 
of "scientists" to that of savages with a certain amount 
of intelligence and in the presence of our most compli- 
cated instruments: telegraphic, telephonic, electro-mag- 
netic, etc., attempting to grasp the nature of their me- 
chanical functions through the sole observation of their 
effects, while in the darkest ignorance of the first laws 
of magnetism and electricity. 

It would, therefore, appear to be wiser not to attempt 



6 INTEODUCTIOIsr 

a solution of the spiritoidal phenomena, until the Causes 
and Laws regulating magnetoidal phenomena are fully 
determined. This does not mean that the notation and 
observation of these phenomena should be neglected; 
rather should the notations and observations be looked 
upon as of preliminary investigation, in no way pre- 
tending to a rational explanation of this order of facts. 

For the time being it should be toward the magne- 
toidal phenomena that all efforts of students and re- 
searchers should be directed. Actually it is not so. 
Even those most favorably disposed toward so-called 
psychism ignore completely the presence of this most 
patent intermediary between hypnotism and spiritism. 
Such an attitude of mind toward it may be traced to 
the arbitrary influence of the Schools of Paris and 
I^ancy, which repudiated its existence; which main- 
tain, as an axiom, that the Braidian Hypnotism and 
the Suggestion of Liebeault have forever ruined the 
hypothesis of Animal Magnetism. There is nothing 
farther removed from truth than such an axiom, as we 
attempt to prove in the following chapters. 

Experiments to disprove the existence of animal mag- 
netism have each time had the effect, on the contrary, 
to show that it possessed absolutely real and proper qual- 
ities for results, where hypnotism and suggestion had 
been rigidly excluded. 

It may be true that a series of magnetoidal phe- 
nomena has been the object of numerous researches. 
But the telepathic phenomena taken by themselves (ab- 



INTRODUCTION^ 1 

straction made of the ^^rapports" which unites them to 
animal magnetism) elude all scientific investigation, in 
the sense that they may be collected ad infinitum but 
remain impossible of experimentation ; and it is impos^ 
sible to find means to submit them to experimentation. 
Therefore, first and last, the task imposed is the com- 
plete, absolute, impartial revision of the case for animal 
magnetism. In this alone are to be found the solutions to 
the problems of telepathy, mental suggestion, exteriori- 
zation of the sensibility and motricity, and the physical 
phenomena of spiritism. 

How should such revision take place ? 

By experimentation and not by theoretical discus- 
sions. 

The study of these phenomena is necessarily sub- 
jected to special conditions. Certain precautions have 
to be taken; these will be found described in full in a 
later chapter of this book. 

In the first place, the influence of suggestion has to 
be eliminated, at least when experimenting with human 
subjects. The conditions presiding over these experi- 
ments, in other words, should be anti-suggestive. They 
are very different conditions from those observed by the 
hypnotists of the School of Paris or the suggestionneurs 
of the School of Nancy. The latter consciously or un- 
consciously use suggestion as their principal element in 
experimentation. In our case we not only do not u^e 
suggestion, but we endeavor to close every possible inlet 



8 lETKODUCTIOlSr 

to the influence of suggestion, in whatever form it may 
present itself. 

In the second place, the principal characteristic of 
the method of experimentation suggested in these pages 
is the regular and continuous use of experimental hy- 
pothesis and experimental discourse. Until now, all the 
so-called experiments conducted hy scientists, as well as 
those by mesmerists, have been in reality but ohserva- 
tions in which were lacking the essential element of true 
experimentation: the coordination of observations thus 
provoked in view of the immediate verification of an 
hypothesis. 

That which differentiates the experimental method 
from the empirical, with which it is too often confused, 
is not the personal intervention of the seeker in the phe- 
nomena which he observes, rather the presence of a pre- 
conceived idea in the mind of the seeJcer, which should 
be controlled in conditions sufiiciently precise that the 
facts obtained may answer in the positive or in the 
negative to all questions asked. Such a method, while 
giving reflection and deduction as important a part as 
observation, will, however, always refer to observation 
for the final decision. 

For instance, the hypothesis which we propose to con- 
trol is that of animal magnetism. Of course we do not 
at all understand this hypothesis as did its "partisans," 
from the time of Mesmer to the present. For them, 
such hypothesis is a theory, constructed more or less 
a priori, more or less completely systematized^ in which 



II^"TEODUCTIO:^r 9 

they seek the explanation of a number of facts already 
slightly known. From onr point of view, it constitutes 
a general, indeterminate, directing idea, useful solely to 
help us in the devising of new experiments, to anticipate, 
as it were, the advent of facts as yet unknown. We do 
not, therefore, attempt, as do other official scientists, 
to prevent its progTcss, in even the minutest details ; we 
leave to experimentation and application proper the task 
of "progressive determination." 

The following supposition is that which is suggested 
by the experiments themselves : 

"The human organism is susceptible of exerting from 
a distance an action analogous to the physical, radiat- 
ing forces known as heat, light, electricity, and mag- 
netism, upon other human organisms — and even upon 
material bodies." 

Such an hypothesis might be more logically defined 
through the scientific knowledge we already possess of 
the radiating properties of physical forces, analogous 
to animal magnetism. But, if this method may have 
some usefulness, it will be found to exist subsidiarily, 
as experimentation progresses, and in the form of new 
suggestions developed through processes of reasoning, 
which would give rise to new experiments. 

In fact, the hypothesis of animal magnetism, to be 
truly experimental, should be decomposed in a multitude 
of other, more particular hypotheses, so that each, in 
turn, may be subjected to the control of an appropriate 
experiment. They are those special hypotheses inter- 



10 mTKODUCTIO]^ 

esHng to the scientific mind solely because of their being 
capable of verification. Their elaboration would then 
proceed from the coordination of two factors: the facts 
and the laws as already known in physics and physi- 
ology. Through analogy, then, one may arrive at cer- 
tain deductions, giving rise to certain hypothetical ap- 
plications, but at least suggestive of new experiments 
and thereby controllable. 

In this matter the scientist should never lose from 
sight the following great truism: "A fact can be of 
scientific value only so long as it suggests an hypothesis 
or controls it. Eeciprocally, an hypothesis is of scien- 
tific value only when suggested by facts and controlled 
by them.'' 

From the ensemble of facts gathered in the course of 
our numerous experiments we have reached a less con- 
jectural conception of animal magnetism, and this has 
given us confidence to solicit the attention of scientists 
and the public generally. 

The following are two capital experiments. The first 
goes far to prove the existence of animal magnetism. 
The second proves the conductibility of the magnetic 
or psychic force. 

Experiment No. 1 . A sensitive subject is blindfolded 
and asked to describe — without being questioned — every 
exterior sensation he may feel. The operator, in per- 
fect silence, places his outstretched hand from 5 to 10 
centimeters distant from any part of the subject's body. 



IlSTTEODUCTIOIsr 11 

A third person, wand in hand, taps in silence the sub- 
ject's body, in any and every part, including the spot 
aimed at with the hand of the operator. After a com- 
paratively short lapse of time, 30 to 60 seconds, the 
subject announces every tap inflicted upon him, and 
designates the spot where the taps are given — with the 
exception of the spot aimed at hy the operator. 

Also, if the operator be substituted by a. neutral per- 
son (one who does not possess the power of exerting 
magnetic or psychic action) it will be found that on 
presentation of the hand for ^Ye, ten, or even twenty 
minutes, no effect will be obtained. The blindfolded 
subject will call out, indifferently, every tap given. 

From this first experiment the deductions would be, 
at least hypothetically and still subject to ulterior con- 
trolling experiments, that: 

1. The human organism radiates at a distance, at 
least through the hand, an influence capable of action 
upon another organism, that of a subject, producing 
in him a notable modification : to wit, anesthesia. 

2. This influence does not emanate from all human 
organisms, or at least it does not emanate from all with 
sufficient force to produce effects of a notable order. 

Experiment No. 2, The subject, being placed in the 
same conditions as before, is experimented upon by "a 
neutral individual,'' acting as operator in the manner 
described above. When it has been well established that 
the influence of that individual has been nil — ^that is, 
does not produce any observable effect — another experi- 



12 mTKODUCTIOISr 

menter is called in and placed in direct contact with 
tlie operator, by taking his hand or in any other way. 
It will then he noticed, after a lapse of time varying 
from 30 to 60 seconds, that the subject fails to perceive 
the taps exerted upon the spot aimed at by the hand of 
the neutral individual. 

From this second experiment it will be deduced, at 
least hypothetically and still subject to ulterior con- 
trolling experiments, that : 

1. The force radiated by active individuals is effec- 
tively received by neutral individmds ; that it passes 
through their organism, although it does not manifest 
its presence through any observable sign. 

2. This force is outwardly transmitted by the 
neutrals, preserving, after having passed through their 
organism, the property to influence a subject, while pro- 
ducing in him an observable effect : to wit, anesthesia. 

Although many deductions could be made from these 
two experiments we shall indicate but the principal two. 

In the first instance it will be found that our concep- 
tion of animal magnetism not only is being confirmed — 
at least until proof to the contrary — ^but is being made 
more precise and clear. 

In the second instance we see that, if this force does 
exist in the human body, it is not in the same degree 
of development in each individual. In many instances 
it appears to be thoroughly absent. Furthermore, we 
may conceive it as being extraordinarily diffusible, since 
it can pass immediately through all bodies without pro- 



IKTEODUCTIOISr 13 

ducing in tliem any appreciable effects. We may even 
conclude tliat it is perfectly conductible, since it is be- 
ing conducted from the operator to the subject, through 
the intermediary of a neutral. Perhaps, also, as may 
be verified in later experiments, this force may be con- 
ducted by all bodies in which it is being diffused. 

This double experimentation permits one to classify 
human beings from the standpoint of animal mag- 
netism. It is evident that they can be divided into three 
classes : 

1. The operators: active or radiating. All those regu- 
larly capable of emitting this psychic force. 

3. The neutrals: non-radiating and conductive. 
Those who do not emit the psychic force, but who can 
transmit it without appreciable modification. 

3. The subjects: passive or non-radiating j isolators or 
non-conductors. These do not emit the psychic force, 
but they receive it, and manifest all its effects. This, 
no doubt, because they condense it, attract it, and per- 
haps, also, transform it while condensing it. 

Let us summarize the above in the following tabula- 
tion: 

1. Radiating — conductihle: Operators. 

2. Non-radiating — conductihle: l^eutrals. 
S. Non-radiating — isolators: Subjects. 

^ow, however, it is possible to conceive a fourth class : 
that of the radiating-isolators. 

As will be seen in a later chapter (^^Human Eadia- 



14 INTRODUCTION 

tions"), this class seems to correspond practically to 
that of the mediums^ producing physical effects (sup- 
posing these effects to be authentically proved). 

All these deductions naturally raise an infinity of sec- 
ondary questions, which may be resolved only by a long 
series of new experiments. For instance: To what 
must be attributed the difference between operators and 
neutrals ? What is the part played, in the emission of 
the magnetic or psychic force, by the nervous system, 
the brain, the nerves, the skin, the blood circulation, 
breathing, nutrition, perspiration, etc., etc. ? Does this 
emission of force radiate from every part of the body 
equally ? Is it located in certain special centers ? Can 
it be increased or diminished at will ? Can it be artifi- 
cially modified by drugs or physical actions with the 
help of external multipliers or condensers; such as the 
influence of water, a dry atmosphere or a humid one, 
electricity, mineralogical magnetism, etc. ? Does its 
quality or intensity vary with the state of health, disr 
ease, age, sex, etc. ? Is its force of emission equal in 
all those who possess it; and if it is true that such is 
not the case, how can one measure it ? Is it possible to 
add and combine the radiating activities of one or more 
operators ? Etc., etc. 

Analogous problems arise regarding the neutrals: 
How does the conduction of this force take place? Is 
it throughout the whole of the organism, or through the 
surface only ? What are the parts played respectively 
by the skin, the nerves, etc. ? To what can be attributed 



i:n^troductio:n' 15 

the relative impermeability of the subjects to the mag- 
neto-psychic force ? Can one produce this phenomenon 
at will, suppress or modify it ? 

If we now consider the ensemble of the phenomena 
called psychic, and especially those of the third classifi- 
cation, a deep problem will be laid before us: that of 
the unity of the Psychic Force, 

Indeed, it may be asked if it be not one and the same 
force which intervenes, in different ways though con- 
nected among themselves, in the phenomena of hyp- 
notism and of suggestion, of telepathy and animal mag- 
netism, of spiritism and mediumism ? 

Like all other problems, this can be solved only 
through a long and patient use of the experimental 
method. But this method, also, demands that we should 
give it a provisional and hypothetical solution. The solu- 
tion seemingly suggested by the facts, especially by those 
of the second and third group, is that this force is one 
and the same, although susceptible of presenting itself 
under various modalities. 

Granting this, it would be advisable to draw a line of 
distinction between the diverse modalities, and to de- 
termine the conditions under which the psychic force 
may pass from one to the other form. A tremendous 
task it is, which we recommend to future workers ! 

We can to-day, however, make the distinction between 
the various modalities : 

1. Internal modalities. Here the psychic force re- 
mains shut in the interior of the organism. They would 



16 INTRODUCTION 

correspond to the phenomena of the first group: hyp- 
notism and suggestion. 

2. Internal-external modalities. In these the psychic 
force is being exteriorized, passing from one organism 
into another. They correspond to the phenomena of the 
second order : animal magnetism and telepathy. 

3. External modalities. Here the psychic force is 
being exteriorized, away from the organism and into 
material, physical objects ; or it creates, itself, such ob- 
jects. To these correspond the phenomena of the third 
order: mediumism. 

It may be supposed, also, that to each of these dif- 
ferent degrees of exteriorization, correspond correlating 
degrees of condensation of the psychic force. 

From the state of absolute fluidity and diffusihility of 
the psychic force, which could be taken as a starting- 
point, it would be possible to obtain, through successive 
transformations, a sufficiently intense condensation to 
become effectively material, visible, and tangible. 

However these hypotheses may be received, so long 
as they serve as instruments for future experimentation, 
there is every advantage in store awaiting the patient 
labors of the scientific seeker. There is no experi' 
mental method without hypothesis. 

The field is all prepared for the sower to sow his seed. 
It is plowed clean and fresh. Let us now hope that 
the plowmen may turn out in great numbers, as the 
coming harvest yields promises of plenty and of joy. 



CHAPTER I 

The Cryptoidal Phenomena 



Bacon, in his Novum Orgamum, recommends the 
scientist to observe indifferently all the natural phe- 
nomena which present themselves to him, and to re- 
serve his interest and attention for really significant and 
instructive facts. To these he gives the name of 
prerogative facts {proerogativce instantiarum) y and 
classifies them in twenty-seven species. 

He assigns the first place, almost, to the ostensive 
facts (instantiw ostivce), which he cites as examples of 
predominance {elucescentias) . These facts are those the 
causes and properties of which are fully apparent, and 
freed from all obstacles to research. As an example he 
cites the magnet, where the attractive force is apparent. 

To these facts he opposes those which he denominates 
as clandestine or dusky (instantiw clandestinw et 
crepusculi). ^'They are those in which the property 
being the subject of research is present in its lowest 
form or degree^ — at its birth, as it were — and as if 
masked and overcome by its opposite." As an example 
he cites cohesion in liquids. 

17 



18 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

Were we, however, to examine the question from a 
generally higher standpoint, we might be justified in 
dividing the phenomena of nature into two great classifi- 
cations: ostensible phenomena and clandestine 'phe- 
nomena. For it seems to us that such a distinction, in 
the actual state of our knowledge and of our researches, 
would be of great scientific and philosophic import, as 
we now will attempt to demonstrate. 

That man, in the name of science, has often criticized 
the illusion born in his own mind that "all things were 
made for the use of man and the satisfaction of his 
needs," is beyond question. Yet the very scientists who 
delighted in the demonstration of how illusory the pre- 
tended finality of nature was, in regard to our practical 
activities, did not suspect that they were the dupes of 
an illusion of the same kind, when considering nature 
as necessarily preordained for the requirements of sci- 
ence. 

Things exist to become known. We may even go 
so far as to say that "things exist to be known scien- 
tifically and by man.'' This is what we might call the 
"initial postulate of human science." In this postulate, 
when examined impartially, one may recognize an appli- 
cation of the principle of finality, as naive as that upon 
which are founded the primitive religions of humanity 
— the earth, center of the universe and man, the aim of 
creation ! 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHE:^0ME¥A 19 

We must confess that such a postulate is imposed 
upon ourselves, by our mental constitution. On the 
one hand, intelligence conforms, as do all nature's 
forces, to the celebrated formula which Spinoza gave 
us: "All that which is^ tends to persevere in its own 
being." 

But, where intelligence is concerned, to persevere in 
its own being means to exert its proper action, to have 
knowledge and exert it indefinitely. Hence its own con- 
fidence in universal intelligibility. 

In his Lessons in Philosophy, M. Rabier states: 
"Every being, every conscious force, is naturally fully 
confident of itself. He whose mind has already mas- ( 

tered and explained to himself a number of natural phe- 
nomena may, or naturally will, believe that all things 
will be made intelligible to him, that he holds the secret 
to All, that the world is made for him and that he will 
be able to assimilate it." And thus, as Aristotle says: 
"As the young man's heart is filled with hopes sublime, 
until the bitterness of life's experiences has humiliated 
his pretensions, so the little bird who has just tried the 
power of his wings may imagine himself capable of fly- 
ing to the stars." 

On the other hand, intelligence finds in the human 
organism a certain number of natural instruments, 
which seemingly have been especially prepared to place 
it in relation with external things, thereby receiving 
immediate cognition. These are the senses. Does it 



^ 



20 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

not seem, in reality, that the senses of taste, smell, touch, 
hearing, and seeing have been so kindly devised and 
combined by Dame ]^ature to give ns a revelation of the 
existence and various properties of all the objects that 
surround us ? 

"All that we can see and touch, really exists ; and all 
that which is not tangible or visible, does not." 

Here are two propositions which, for the great ma- 
jority of men, pass as every-day common sense. Yet 
these pretended axioms have been given all the titles in 
the world, forming, as they do, the first alignment of 
that vast classification of universal and natural preju- 
dices, which Bacon denominates idola trihus. 

Our senses, it is true, have been produced and fash- 
ioned by the things themselves, and from this point of 
view it would not be very exact to consider, with Des- 
cartes, that "all perceptions received are entirely sub- 
jective and arbitrary." Given other senses, we should 
perceive things differently. But perhaps we would not 
possess other senses if things themselves were different. 
In this case they naturally would become for us the ob- 
ject of other perceptions. Meanwhile, whatever part 
things played in the genesis of our senses, the primary 
factor in this evolution has certainly not been intel- 
lectual usefulness; rather, vital usefulness. 

"The senses," writes M. Fouillee, in his Psychologie 
des idees-forces, "have been organized progressively, 
not so as to serve in the acquisition of intellectual and 



^ 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHEIS'OMEI^A 21 

speculative knowledge, as stated by Plato; rather, to 
supply the practical needs of ^appetite' and %e will to 
live.' The eyes are not formed expressly for the pur- 
pose of contemplation; rather, are they there to ward 
off danger and facilitate the prehension of prey. It 
cannot even be said that the eyes formed themselves to 
see; rather, to transmit the impressions of pain, pleas- 
ure, and conduce to action. All organs of the senses 
are but means to accomplish motions of flight and of 
pursuit, which in themselves aim ultimately at evasion 
from pain and the pursuit of pleasure." 

This is why one sense predominates over another. In 
the human species the predominance of the senses of 
sight and touch over all other senses can have no rapport 
whatsoever with the value of these senses as instruments 
for the scientific knowledge of things, nor be related to 
any particularity in the structure of this species or to 
any accident of its evolution. Suppose for one mo- 
ment a race of beings as intelligent as man, in whom the 
sense of smell were the predominating sense, as it is 
with the dog. Smell, in this race, would then be the 
measure of reality; and among them the axiom would 
be: "All things without smell do not exist." 

Error in common things has been equally shared by 
the greatest philosophers. Thus Aristotle taught that 
the reason why we possess five senses is because there 
are ^yo distinct irreducible properties in material ob- 
jects, which correspond respectively to our senses, such 



22 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

as color, sound, smell, taste and tangibility. Hence his 
celebrated aphorism : ^^One sense the less, one science 
the less." 

Until the advent of Descartes, the doctrine of Aristotle 
reigned supreme in philosophy. That one thing might 
exist without manifesting itself to any of our senses 
would have been an utterance which a medical doctor 
of the Middle Ages would have described, a priori, 
as absurd. Yet in the School this was universally ad- 
mitted as a principle ; in fact, it was one of those prin- 
ciples which it was forbidden to discuss : ^ ^Between that 
which does not exist and that which is not apparent, 
the difference is nil (eadem est ratio non entis ac non 
apparentis) .'^ 

To-day, however, we allow ourselves unconsciously 
to be guided by this obsolete principle. Phenomenon is 
for us synonymous with fact or natural event, as if noth- 
ing happened or were made in nature which is not sus- 
ceptible of appearing to us, of revealing itseK to us. 
The truth is that, together with other thinkers, we 
hardly begin to realize that ^^in the unfathomable 
regions of space, around ourselves, in our own selves, 
occur certain orders of phenomena to which we possess 
no key, upon which we have no light, and the knowledge 
of which it is imperatively necessary for mankind to 
obtain in order to understand the only just and true 
explanation of things." ^ 
^ Theorie des sciences, L. Bourdeau. (Paris: Alean.) 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHENOMENA 23 

II 

A revolution is taking place at the present time in 
the general conception which scientists have of the phe- 
nomena of nature. This revolution consists in the ad- 
mittance of the two orders of phenomena: First, the 
ostensible phenomena, to use Bacon's definition, or the 
phaneroidal phenomena ; these are almost the only phe- 
nomena which scientists hitherto have taken in consid- 
eration. Second, the clandestine or cryptoidal phe- 
nomena, which appear to have been eliminated sys- 
tematically from our usual means of investigation, but 
the reality of which we cannot afford longer to ignore. 

Two principal causes have contributed to the advent 
of this revolution into our ideas. In the first place, we 
have the accumulation of the extraordinary discoveries 
from the latter part of the ISTineteenth Century onward. 
The effects of these were suddenly to bring to light the 
existence of certain unknown phenomena occurring in 
those realms of nature which, in our own pretensions, 
we had thought explored through and through for all 
times. In the second place, the influence of the philo- 
sophical doctrines of Descartes, Leibnitz, and Kant fa- 
miliarized us more and more with the metaphysical no- 
tions of the infinity of the universe and the relative im- 
perfections of human knowledge. 

In the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, we wit- 
nessed the definite constitution of almost all the sciences 
of nature, in possession at last of their objects and of 



24 ouK hidde:n" eoeces 

their methods ; and as long as the first phase of elahora- 
tion and organization lasted, the scientists believed that 
all that remained to be done was to develop farther and 
regularly the results already acquired. They believed 
that they had filled all the pigeon-holes which they had 
prepared to receive their findings; but they did not, 
nor could not, suppose that these would suffice for the 
future acquirements of science. The natural curiosity 
of the human mind appeared, thus, for all times circum- 
scribed within the barriers which the men of that era 
took quite in good faith for the very limits of reality. 
It would have been impossible for a scientist of the year 
1830 or 1848 to have been capable of conceiving lines 
such as the following, which themselves date as far back 
as 1892, and which demonstrate to what extent the scien- 
tific spirit grew in the second half of the Nineteenth 
Century : 

''Think of the fact that general physics, as the base 
of all the sciences, is constantly changing, constantly 
being renewed. We cannot, we should not, look upon 
the theories of the dynamism of heat and electricity, of 
attraction, of the conservation of energy, as the last 
word in scientific discoveries. These are, no doubt, 
great and wonderful laws ; but^ without being considered 
a dreamer, one may assert that these laws will yet be 
dethroned by others, different and more general in char- 
acter. Nothing authorizes us to say that we know all 
of the laws of nature. Far from it ; the probability is 
that a few of nature's forces are known to us, while a 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHEXOMEIS^A 25 

great many are still hidden from onr knowledge. What 
would we know of the force of electricity, had Galvani 
and Volta not experimented as they did ? What could 
we say about magnetism, if the magnet were not in ex- 
istence? Certainly, there are in nature all kinds of 
forces which we cannot see, do not know how to see, and 
that hazard only, or the genius of a man, will be able 
some day to discover.'' ^ 

How can such a conviction not be shared by every 
scientist who pauses to think for only a brief moment, 
when he realizes how the medical sciences have been 
changed and renewed, from top to bottom, with the ad- 
vent of Pasteur's discoveries; in 1860 he received but 
derision and abuse from his scientific colleagues. Then, 
the existence of microbes was hardly suspected; to-day 
we realize they are everywhere, and that nature has no 
greater or more energetic agents. 

We might also recall the transformation which took 
place in astronomy through the discovery of ^^spectral 
analysis," thanks to which we are in a position to know 
a gTcat deal more intimately the actual chemical consti- 
tution of the most distant stars than we know that of our 
own earth. 

The more recent discovery, the Eoentgen rays, has at 
once opened the doors wide upon an intricate ensemble 
of phenomena, which no one would have hesitated to 
declare at first sight as impossible of existence. And 

^ Dans cent ans, Charles Eichet. (Bevue scientifique, March 12, 
1892.) 



26 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

have not the scientists, only yesterday, discovered after 
centuries of analysis that the air we breathe contains 
four gases of unknown qualities: argon, crypton, neon 
and metargon ? What about the discovery of radium, of 
wireless telegraphy and telephony, telegraphic pho- 
tography, etc. ? And we can safely say that the list is 
not by any means near to completion. 



Ill 

From another side, philosophy, following a different 
course, has reached this conclusion: ^^The knowable 
does not constitute the full reality ; it is only a part of 
it — better still, an aspect of reality." 

Descartes, while giving an absolute value to the ra- 
tional knowledge founded upon distinct and clear ideas, 
only professes the relativity of knowledge, through the 
senses. According to this philosopher, our senses do 
not give us the real comprehension of the nature of 
things, which is entirely geometrical and mechanical. 
The senses give us a knowledge, only, of their proper 
modifications ; and therefore can solely give us an indi- 
rect and incomplete knowledge of the phenomena of the 
exterior world. Of the infinity of figures and motions 
contained in the immensity of space, the senses reveal 
to us but an infinitesimally small portion, under the 
illusory appearance of sound, light, heat; or, in other 
words, of the various sensorial qualities. Matter, not 
being limited to space or to time, realizes infinitely more 



THE CRYPTOIDAL PHENOMENA 27 

phenomena than we are in a position to observe, than 
we may even conceive of. Hence the reason why the 
field of natural possibilities is to Descartes limitless: 
our imagination could not invent a prodigy which na- 
ture's mechanism were incapable of executing.^ 

Spinoza appears at first sight to promise us the sci- 
ence of integral and absolute being. Does he not pre- 
tend to deduce mathematically all truths from the three 
definitions of substance, attribute, and mode? But as 
Matter is infinite, it necessarily contains an infinity of 
attributes, infinitely modified; yet, of all the attributes 
of Matter, the number of which is infinite, two only 
are known to us : space and thought.- Therefore, paral- 
lel with the world of bodies and souls in which we have 
our being, others exist, endlessly, hidden to our vision, 
the modes of which are nevertheless inseparable from 
those of our own world in the indivisible unity of uni- 
versal substance. Thus in the very center of Spinoza's 
system exists a terrific abyss above which the Mind of 
Man cannot lean without danger. 

Descartes and Spinoza, then, place the Infinite out- 
side of ourselves. Leibnitz, on the contrary, interior- 
izes it, or locates it within. Every soul, every monad, 
every element of things, contains in itself the universal- 
ity of things past, present, and to come. There is no 
point in the universe which is not in active and dynamic 
communication with all the others. 

^ Principes de la pMlosophie, Descartes. 
* L ^etendue et la pensee. 



28 ouK hidde:n^ fokces 

Without taking the trouble to go out of my own indi- 
vidual sphere, it would be sufficient for me to descend, 
deeply, within my own self to behold, with mine own 
eyes, the whole drama of Universal Life. Would it 
then come to this, that my own and distinct conscious- 
ness, my apperception, lights up but the surface of my 
being, and that a whole world of latent perceptions lies 
behind that which I perceive ? This inference leads to 
the introduction in philosophy of what is called the 
paradoxical notion, if contradictory in appearance, of 
sensations that are not felt and of thoughts that one has 
unknowingly ; and at the same time the perspectives of 
psychology retrogress infinitely : hitherto limited to the 
first planes of conscious life, they now extend indefi- 
nitely into the mysterious regions of the subconscious 
and of the unconscious. 

From still another point of view, Leibnitz may be 
reckoned as one of the most important promoters of this 
new way of looking at things. By this we mean his 
hypothesis of monads. While the doctrine of atoms 
invites us to conceive the hidden principles of the phe- 
nomena of nature with the characters of the phenomena 
themselves — size, form, weight, visibility, tangibility 
(for our imagination, if not for our senses) — ^m jnadism 
constrains us to suppose them absolutely heteroger^eous 
in regard to the material world. 

If this alone be but knowable, from the scientific 
point of view, does not the Leibnitzian hypothesis of 
monads become impossible of scientific cognition: that 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHE^^OMEISTA 29 

is, objectively and "universally ? Kant did not hesitate to 
draw this conclusion. He resolutely decided upon the 
conversion of monads into noumena. 

From his Critique of Pure ReasoUj the thesis of the 
relativity of human knowledge has passed into current 
use in philosophy and contemporaneous sciences. It has 
even become the common ground of thought in the pres- 
ent century. And it was this that Spencer used as the 
basis of the system in which he attempted to synthesize 
all the results, hitherto acquired or simply hoped for, 
from the scientific work up to date. Under the infinitely 
varied forms of the phenomena is hidden an unknowable 
reality, the substance and cause of universal evolution. 

However, if this metaphysical conception of the un- 
knowable, of the noumenon, or of the thing in me has 
paved the way to that of the cryptoidal phenomena it 
nevertheless differs from it materially — just because it 
is metaphysical and not scientific ; because it is in rap- 
port with absolute realities, with transcendental entities, 
and not with facts or phenomena, belonging as they do 
to the domain of positive science although situated in a 
part of that domain infinitely less accessible to our cus- 
tomary methods of procedure. In other words, con- 
temporaneous science is beginning to assimilate the 
metaphysical concept of the unknowable, but in adapt- 
ing it to its proper object, which is and will remain the 
phenomenal world. Through this it becomes, from the 
absolute unknowable of the metaphysicians, a fact rela- 
tively unknowable. 



30 OFR HIDDEI^ FOECES 

Between the cryptoidal phenomena and the others the 
difference is hut one of circumstances, not one of es- 
sence. That which remained hitherto a notion purely 
formal, negative, and hollow becomes, as we will dem- 
onstrate later on, positive and concrete. 



IV 

From the above, it might be inferred that contem- 
poraneous scientists are but rehabilitating a most an- 
cient conception, obstinately ignored and scorned 
equally by scientists and philosophers, at least by all 
the so-called classical and official ones. Have there not 
existed, at all times, mystics, theosophists, magicians, 
etc., false philosophers and false scientists, so denounced 
by the former, who maintained the existence in nature 
of a whole order of special phenomena, in a sense super- 
natural, which science is incapable of knowing or of 
mastering by ordinary methods of observation and ex- 
perimentation ? Do not these phenomena constitute, as 
it were, a world apart, in the gTcat world of universal 
phenomena ? And to these must there not consequently 
correspond an order of distinct sciences, that of the 
sciences called occult, side by side and above the sci' 
ences called positive? 

We are not in a position to say whether the asser- 
tions of the occultists have contributed to the widening 
of the conceptions of positive science. Were this to be 
true, however, it would in no wise follow that we would 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHEE^OMENA 31 

witness, to-day, the rehabilitation of the occult sciences. 
But we may say, that the same law of transformation 
which is operating through the metaphysical notions 
of the unknown is operating also through the mystical 
notions of the occult. The one as well as the other 
tends to become rational and positive under its influ- 
ence. 

There is, therefore, no question of restoring astrology, 
alchemy and other pseudo-sciences of antiquity and of 
the Middle Ages. The whole question lies in the fact 
of merely developing the real sciences, the modern sci- 
ences, founded on experimentation and calculation, in 
such wise as to encompass all orders of phenomena, 
visible or invisible^ ostensible or clandestine. 

As far back as in 1814, Madame de Stael, writing in 
her book De V Allemagne, said: ^^What we like to call 
errors and superstitions may be due, after all, to our 
imperfect knowledge of certain laws of the universe. 
The rapports between the metals and the planets, or 
vice versa, the influence of these rapports on human 
life, the oracles, even the omens, may have as their 
causes certain unknown forces of which we do not pos- 
sess the slightest idea. Why not give the experimental 
method a wider philosopJiical concept, which would 
embody the universe in its ensemble, and would not 
despicably turn its nose up to the ^nocturnal' side of 
nature, while waiting for more light V^ 

If, therefore, by occult phenomena is understood 
miraculous and supernatural phenomena, not related 



32 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

in a regular and constant form to the ensemble of the 
forces and laws of the universe, but constituting a sec- 
ond nature entirely aside from the experimental sci- 
ences, such as physics, chemistry and biology, it would 
be evident that to admit of the reality of such phenom- 
ena would not mean the regress of the limits of science ; 
rather, the extension of its domain. If phenomena of 
that sort were truly possible, they would not constitute, 
for science, an open door upon new spaces to explore, 
but, on the contrary, a closed and unscalable wall. 

The cryptoidal phenomena should be conceived as 
following the supreme and universal law which all phe- 
nomena obey: the law of causation. The flux and re- 
flux of the same conditions bring them and take them 
away with an invariable regularity, and although they 
may appear capricious and elusive, they nevertheless 
belong to the realm of natural determinism. It is in 
rapport to ourselves, and not in themselves, that they 
differ from the sensorial and constant phenomena. 



In the first gi'oup of the cryptoidal phenomena might 
be included certain phenomena which actually exist and 
recur perpetually in our universe, but which our senses 
do not record, owing to the lack of the reactive agent 
and to the fact that we do not possess, normally, the 
means to register or perceive them. With the ancients 
this was true in the case of air. And it was the case 



THE CRYPTOIDAL PHEN^0ME:N^A 33 

with electricity so long as man remained ignorant of 
the means of producing and accumulating it artificially. 
The existence of X-rays might have remained unknown 
had it not been for the accidental fact of an electric 
current passing through the Crookes tube near certain 
chemicals in the laboratory of Roentgen. Their proper- 
ties to-day are well known. A simpler example could 
be derived from the solar rays of light in the regions 
of the infra-red and the ultra-violet; these properties 
are known to us only indirectly, through their physical 
and physiological effects. The principles of photog- 
raphy are founded entirely upon the fact that images, 
at first invisible and fleeting, can be printed upon cer- 
tain substances, and then made visible and permanent 
by means of other substances reacting upon the former. 

In 1842, Moser, a German professor, maintained that 
two bodies of whatever nature constantly imprinted 
their image one upon the other, even when placed in 
complete obscurity. Thus, illustrated prints leave 
their image upon glass; to make this visible all you 
need do is to project upon the glass any kind of vapor 
— for instance, the breath, vapors of mercury, iodin, 
chlorine, etc. 

In the realm of physiology and psychology, there is 
now an abundance of eryptoidal phenomena. 

It is thus that all our emotions, thoughts, efforts of 
the will, etc., are accompanied by fibrillary movements 
in our muscles; although imperceptible to our senses 
they nevertheless translate faithfully their nature or 



34 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

intensity. This is shown by the pendulum of Chevreul. 
Another physiologist, Gley, has gone minutely into this 
question; aided by special instruments he was able to 
produce the apparently enigmatic phenomenon of 
thought-transmission, or thought-reading. Dr. Pierre 
Janet, with the aid of "automatic writing," has been 
able to prove the presence of consciousness in hysterical 
patients, when they were apparently impervious to sen- 
sations of pain. 

One might also suggest that the hypnotic and mag- 
netic maneuvers are cryptoidal in nature, in the sense 
that their effects can reveal themselves only after the 
revelatory process of suggestion, gesture, or speech. 

The same applies to the revelator of the still un- 
known cryptoidal state obtained by the Braidian proc- 
ess: the state to which Durand (de Gros) gave the name 
of Jiypotaxy, and which is the verbal suggestion or ideo- 
plasty, the effects of which he compares to that of light 
thrown upon a sensitive plate. He says : "The individ- 
ual whom you submit to hypnosis is to be compared 
to a sensitive plate. The usual Braidian process ap- 
plied to him has the purpose of sensitizing him. But 
in order that the objects you wish to photograph may 
leave the record of their images, it is not sufficient that 
you should have sensitized the plate and kept it from 
the light. You also must put your plate in the dark 
chamber of the camera and open the obturator, so 
that the light rushing in will reflect the images of the 
objects upon the sensitized plate and accomplish the 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHEISTOMEiTA 35 

task. Thus the second part of the photographic oper- 
ation is represented in hypnotism by the ideoplastic 
phase, where the mental impression or suggestive word 
plays the part of the rays of light/' 

It also may be probable that this hypotaxic state 
may be produced by several other causes. It may even 
exist spontaneously among certain individuals ; but not 
using the revelatory processes, which we ignore, we are 
kept in the dark as to its existence. 

This may explain the phenomenon to which Bern- 
heim calls attention : ^'If you take the arm of a typhoid 
patient, raise it slowly and leave it so, the arm will 
remain thus suspended in the position where it was 
left. Then take the other arm and do the same with it. 
You obtain catalepsy. This state will be more or less 
accentuated according to the cases. Certain patients 
allow the arm to fall; others remain cataleptized for a 
minute or two ; while still others remain so indefinitely. 
Often the cataleptic state is slight: a mere touch will 
cause the arm to fall. More often, however, the arm is 
rigid or elastic, etc." 

These, Dr. Bernheim says, are interesting and re- 
current facts, and the clinicians go by them daily with- 
out knowing or noticing them. In so characterizing 
them, he gives to these phenomena almost the very same 
definition which we ourselves have given to the cryptoi- 
dal phenomena. 

Then come the phenomena, still under controversy, 
but none the less real, discovered by the late Colonel 



36 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

de Eochas. These are called '^the exteriorization of 
the sensibility/' and have been verified and reproduced 
by Dr. Paul Joire, of Lille, France. The subjects, in 
a deep comatose condition, lose the sensitiveness from 
the surface of their skin, and it appears to be projected 
outwardly at various distances or to become fixed, as 
it were, in certain objects held in contact by the indi- 
viduals for a certain time. The description of this is 
fully given in our introduction and also in the chapter 
entitled "The Exteriorization of the Sensitiveness." 

In these experiments, it would seem that the experi- 
menter, having exteriorized his sensitiveness in a mate- 
rial object, remained in communication with this object 
through the lines of force ; so that for every impression 
made upon the nervous system there was an immediate 
repercussion upon the object. By reciprocity, for every 
impression created upon the object there was an instan- 
taneous repercussion upon the subject's nervous sys- 
tem; so that the part played by the subject was simply 
that of a reactionary agent or revelator, in virtue of 
his greater impressionability. 

If this he the true interpretation of these phenomena, 
one cannot help being staggered hy the immense quanti- 
ties of subtle and imponderable actions which we exert, 
at all times, upon all the objects which surround us, 
and upon all the people with whom we daily come in 
contact; actions which we also receive from outside 
sources and of which we remain unconscious owing to 
the lach of proper revelators. 



THE CEYPTOIDAL PHENOMEISTA 37 

What a whirl of currents crossing our invisible atmos- 
phere, what quantities of lines of Force, present around 
us in all directions, in the troubled depths of the etheric 
world ! 

Who knows that the jocular expression of Berthelot, 
the great French savant, was not spoken earnestly from 
the heart: ^Will it be yet possible in our lifetime to 
find and photograph the image of Alexander the Great, 
beneath one of the rocks where he slept for a few 
instants during his expedition to Asia ?" 



VI 

It would be interesting, in order to complete the 
study of this first category of phenomena, to study also 
the various kinds of revelators or agents of reaction. 

We know that the obstacle in the path of the ancient 
philosophers to ascertain the atmospheric weight was 
the fact that all the atmospheric molecules counter- 
poised one another. It was only possible to manifest 
its effects on one point at the expense of suppressing 
them on another, as did Pascal and Torricelli. 

The light of the stars becomes visible in the daytime 
when reaching the eye directly without being inter- 
cepted by the rays of the sun (for instance, at the bot- 
tom of a well or a mine). In other cases, the revelator 
does not play any other part than that of preventing 
the passage of an action which otherwise traverses too 
rapidly and freely the various milieux, without possi- 



38 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

bility of controlling it. It is for this reason that, with- 
out the presence of isolators and bad conductors, it 
would never have been possible for us to gain a knowl- 
edge of electricity. 

Mr. Bergson seems to have explained external per- 
ception, such as conceived by him, in an action d'arret 
of this kind. "The question is not how perception takes 
birth; rather, how it is limited; for by right it is the 
image of all things, although reduced in fact to that 
which interests us." In effect, "that which is given 
is the totality of the material world with the totality 
of their internal elements. But if you suppose 
certain centers of real or spontaneous activity, the rays 
reaching them, instead of going through them, will ap- 
pear to come back and outline the borders of the object 
which sends them." Further still, "if we consider any 
part of the universe, we may say that the action of 
matter goes through it without resistance or loss, and 
that the photography of the whole is translucid : behind 
the plate is then missing a black screen upon which the 
image would be projected. Our zones of indetermina- 
tion (the designation for living and conscious beings) 
would then play the part, as it were, of screens." 

We believe that this mode of revelation is indeed 
more frequent in nature than is dreamed of; and that 
in particular that which distinguishes the people sensi- 
tive to magnetic, hypnotic, telepathic actions, etc., from 
the rest of humanity, is the fact that their nervous 



THE CRYPTOIDAL PHENOMENA 39 

system is relatively impermeable to these actions. 
Often, also, the revelator operates in reproducing and 
continuing the phenomenon which he is revealing to us. 

A correlation seems, then, to exist between them all 
when we may read or see, with more or less facility, all 
the variations of the one in the variations of the other. 
This is the case with scrap-iron and the magnet; or 
with the vibrations of sound (for which nature gave us 
the ear, as revelator) and sand strewn over vibrating 
surfaces, etc. 

Apparatus of registration come into this category, 
which might also include those which reproduce the 
variations of phenomena, amplifying and multiplying 
them at the same time.^ 

These examples will, I hope, suffice to give us an 
idea of the diversity of means whereby the most elu- 
sive phenomena may be made manifest. All instru- 
ments should, then, fill the purpose of placing the phe- 
nomena in rapport with our nervous system, which re- 
mains, after all, the supreme revelator. But if it is 
the most delicate of all, it also is the easiest to disrupt. 

"At time of translating, I have just cut from a New York 
newspaper an announcement as follows: *' Improved sound 
amplifier. Berkeley. Cal. 16. 1. 17. Experiments with this new 
sound amplifier indicate that it will be possible to make hereto- 
fore impracticable scientific tests. For instance, by attaching the 
instrument to an ordinary phonograph it will make possible the 
record of the sound of a human heart. The sound of a leaking 
heart-valve can be amplified 10,000 times." Professor R. B. Ab- 
bott, instructor in physics at the University of California, is the 
inventor. — ^W. de K. 



40 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

Hence the reason why all researches where it cannot 
be given the complement of artificial revelators, such 
as those seen in physical laboratories or chemical reac- 
tion agents, are condemned, almost indefinitely, to un- 
certainty. 

Indeed, it would seem that we are not very much 
farther advanced than at the time when Laplace wrote : 
^^Of all the instruments that we may use in our quest 
for knowledge of the agents of nature, the nerves are 
the most sensitive^ especially so when their sensitiveness 
is exaggerated through particular circumstances. 
Through them we discovered the feeble current of elec- 
tricity which two heterogeneous metallic bodies gener- 
ate, and which opened an unlimited field to the re- 
searches of the chemists and physicians. The singular 
phenomena which result from the extreme sensitiveness 
of the nerves, in certain individuals, has given birth to 
diverse opinions upon the existence of a new agent 
called ^animal magnetism,' upon the action of the ordi- 
nary magnetism, the influence of the sun and the moon 
during various nervous affections. Finally, upon the 
impressions which can be gathered when in the proxim- 
ity of running water and subterranean masses of metal. 

^'It is natural to think that the action of such causes 
is quite feeble and may easily be disturbed by a great 
number of accidental causes. Therefore, if in some 
instances such actions have not been manifested, their 
existence should not be rejected." 



THE CRYPTOIDAL PHENOMENA 41 



vn 



In tlie second group of the cryptoidal phenomena 
might be included all the phenomena which nature, in 
the ordinary course of her operations, produces but 
rarely, if at all, but which nevertheless are evolved from 
her laws in the state of possible certainties. 

These, therefore, are not cryptoidal in the same sense 
as the former; for when they are realized, sponta- 
neously or otherwise, they fall immediately under our 
senses, and we have no trouble in observing them. Yet, 
for all that, they remain hidden and relatively inacces- 
sible; for they appear only as rare exceptions, so long 
as we do not meet them with conditions necessary for 
their realization. In the majority of instances, also, 
they may be qualified as paradoxical, inasmuch as most 
men, never having observed them, are disposed to con- 
sider them as impossible, until the day that science 
discovers the means to produce and reproduce them at 
will under their very eyes. 

These phenomena require, in fact, not, as in the 
former cases, special revelators, but, if we may term 
it so, special realizerSj without which they remain not 
only invisible, but inexistent. As soon as the realizers 
are procured, whether by chance effect or otherwise, one 
beholds the abrupt surging of these phenomena from the 
depths of the latent possibilities of nature, similar to 



4:2 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

the genii of those Oriental fairy tales, ready to obey 
tlie magical evocation.^ 

In practice it is not always easy to distinguisli these 
phenomena from the preceding ones. The difference 
which separates the revelator from the excitator or 
realizator is often but a shade. For example, take 
remembrances of an extremely distant past, as in the 
instance of the young patient who in her delirium re- 
cited, without apparent consciousness, texts in Hebrew, 
Greek and Latin, which she had in former days known. 
In this case has not disease been the revelator of a state 
already existing, or has disease realized a hidden con- 
dition? In a general manner, if it be admitted that 
every impression, every thought, even the most ephem- 
eral, leaves behind itself a trace in our organism and 
in our mind, every one of us contains a world of phe- 
nomena, cryptoidal phenomena, which might indiffer- 
ently be classified in either of these two groups. 

It also may happen that the same phenomenon be- 
longs to both groups, as is the case with many of those 
we already have discussed ; for instance, passes and the 
Braidian process, which would remain unperceived 
were it not for the revelators : suggestion and muscular 
contraction, voluntarily provoked in the subjects. 

But, from another point of view, who could believe, 
so long as he did not experiment, that it is sufiicient 

® To this category of phenomena belongs that of the apparition 
of new living species, by way of the law of transformation of the 
species already in existence. 



THE CEYPTOlDAL PHENOMENA 43 

to wave your liands in front of certain individuals, or 
to make tliem gaze at a fixed spot for a certain length 
of time, to realize in them such extraordinary phenom- 
ena as somnambulism, catalepsy, lethargy, hyperes- 
thesia, amnesia, hyperamnesia, etc. ? Hence may he 
explained the stubborn incredulity that these phenom- 
ena have for so long had to contend with in the so-called 
scientific world, as well as among the laymen. One 
may fully understand why Dr. Bernheim, a few years 
ago, should say : 

"That which astounds fellow-doctors who honor us 
by visiting our clinic, is the singular ease with which 
we hypnotize the immense majority of subjects of all 
ages, sex, and temperament. They imagined that the 
hypnotic state was the exclusive inheritance of a few 
and rare neuropathic subjects. Now, they see a whole 
room of patients of all denominations fall under the 
influence of hypnotic suggestion. How is it possible 
that for centuries we have passed by, without discover- 
ing it, this wonderful and easily demonstrated truth ?'' 

Our conviction is that as Science shall relentlessly 
pursue her quest for Truth and Knowledge, before her 
will be unfolded other and still more wonderful truths 
by the side of which mankind has traveled for cen- 
turies without ever noticing them. 



CHAPTER II 
Thought: the Hidden Fokce 

'^The two actions of thought, that which induces be- 
lief in an object, and that through which one knows 
that one believes, may often exist one without the 
other." 

This quotation from Descartes ^ concerning belief 
indicates his conceiving the action of belief as an un- 
conscious one. Hence one may ask whether certain 
other mental states do not present a similar character. 

Leibnitz, however, it would seem, had been the first 
to formulate the conception of unconscious psychologi- 
cal phenomena, or as he then called them, ^'insensible 
perceptions." He was the first to say that: "In our- 
selves exists an infinity of perceptions, without apper- 
ception or reflection; in other words, certain mental 
changes exist of which we are unconscious because they 
are too numerous or too infinitesimal, or too similar. 
When separate, these impressions have nothing to dis- 
tinguish them; but joined to others they seldom fail 
to produce their effect and to make themselves felt, if 
only confusedly." 

His conception since then has been in frequent use 
^ Discours de la methode, Part III. 

44 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEE^ FOECE 45 

in psjcliology. If it lias been possible to discuss the 
interpretation of "unconscious psychological phenom- 
ena" — some holding the view of absolute unconscious- 
ness, others the subconscious or relative unconscious- 
ness — students have been at least unanimous in admit- 
ting the existence of such phenomena, in order to ex- 
plain mental life. 

Certainly this question has progressed, since taken 
into the field of experimentation, through the study of 
certain pathological, more or less abnormal facts; for 
in this way it has been possible to make visible all the 
internal life hitherto hidden from our sight. One has 
thus proved experimentally that side by side with such 
things as sensations, perceptions, ideas, judgment, rea- 
soning, etc., of which we are conscious, may exist other 
sensations, perceptions, ideas, etc., of which we are 
thoroughly unconscious. Experimental research has 
also gone so far as to prove that these latter impres- 
sions are capable of such coordination and may organ- 
ize themselves in such manner as to constitute a second 
personality more or less distinct from and independent 
of the principal. 

Giving, therefore, the term cryptopsychism to the 
ensemble of these latent psychological phenomena, we 
may distinguish two degrees or two forms of crypto- 
psychism : 

1. An elementary cryptopsychism: fragmentary; 
consisting of isolated phenomenal instances. 



46 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

2. A synthetical cryptopsychism: organized; con- 
sisting of phenomena more or less allied and consistent, 
so as to assume the appearance of a secondary person- 
ality. 



In the first division the most frequent case is that 
of unconscious sensations. 

One knows how frequent are cases of anesthesia 
among hysterical subjects. But are these cases real or 
apparent? When touched, pinched, pricked, burnt, 
etc., must it be understood that the body of the hysteri- 
cal patient does not resent any pain? That these sen- 
sations are but unconscious ? 

To solve this problem all that is needed is the means 
to render these sensations conscious. 

Let us now examine the various processes, before go- 
ing any farther in the study of cryptopsychic phenom- 
ena, that enable us to reveal (in the full sense of the 
term employed by photographers) the sensations in the 
unconscious and in general all the unconscious psy- 
chological facts. 

The first process is that of subsequent somnambulism. 
This consists in placing the subject in the somnambu- 
listic state, and to question him on the sensations he 
receives at the very moment when he appears not to 
feel anything. It will then be understood that the 
sensations did actually take place, but that these were 
not accompanied by a state of consciousness — at least 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEIST FOKCE 47 

these sensations were foreign to the central and per- 
sonal consciousness of the subject. 

Well do I remember having first of all employed 
this process in the year 1896, when at the Salpetriere, 
with the late Dr. A. Yoisin. My attention was drawn 
by B. L., one of my pupils, now practicing medicine 
in Paris, to an hysterical woman, S., who was afflicted 
with cutaneous anesthesia over her whole body. S. had 
been badly burnt; and through this we were able to 
test her degree of sensibility. We found that she was 
perfectly insensible. Vainly did we endeavor to restore 
her sensibility through suggestion, given her while in 
the hypnotic state. Whether in the sleeping or in the 
waking state, S. remained totally anesthetised. 

As that time I had just read the remarkable works 
of M. Pierre Janet upon psychological automatism; 
and I wondered if really this case of hysterical an- 
esthesia were not a case of unconscious sensitiveness, as 
described in his book.^ 

I then placed S. in a somnambulistic state, giving her 
the post-hypnotic suggestion that she should exactly 
remember in a second state of somnambulism the vari- 
ous pin-pricks which I was about to inflict upon her, and 
that she should be able to indicate precisely the loca- 
tion of the pricks. 

S. woke. She did not appear to remember the sug- 
gestions given. While her attention was distracted 
through conversing with a third person, we inflicted 

^ L^automatiame psychologique, Part II. (Paris: F. Alcan.) 



48 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

several other pin-pricks upon her. She did not see us 
do this, and was therefore wholly unaware of it. 

Placed a second time in the somnambulistic state, S. 
indicated with great precision the various parts of her 
body where these pin-pricks had been inflicted, and even 
to the very order in which they had been inflicted. 

It would have been most interesting to make this 
experiment again, without preceding it with suggestion, 
and varying the circumstances as much as possible. In 
a general manner, it should be well to ascertain whether 
all the cases of partial or complete hysterical anesthesia 
are not, in reality, cases of subconscious sensibility. 

The second process is that described by Pierre Janet 
as suggestion by distraction. It consists in giving a 
specific suggestion while the subject's attention is dis- 
tracted to some other object. This suggestion is real- 
ized by him quite unconsciously, while in the waking 
state and when his actions seem to imply the exercise, 
more or less complicated, of his mental faculties. 

Pierre Janet cites the following: 

The patient L — , possessing that natural distraction which is 
common to hysterical subjects, is incapable of hearing me 
while listening to others, and still less of obeying my com- 
mands. This woman is not like other hysterical patients, sub- 
ject to receiving suggestions in the waking state. If, in a 
direct manner, I command her to perform an action, she will 
discuss it in astonishment, but will not obey. But when she is 
busily engaged talking to others, I can, without her knowl- 
edge, and while standing, unseen, behind her, induce her to 
obey my commands. For instance, she will slowlj^ take her 



, THOUGHT: THE HIDDEIsT FOECE 49 

watch from her pocket, or walk away, or put her gloves on, or 
take them off, when ordered to do so. 

Anesthesia among certain subjects gives rise to simi- 
lar phenomena. 



-'s left hand is in a complete anesthetic state. I hide it 
behind a screen, and place in it a pair of scissors. I then ask 
L — to tell me what she holds. She cannot do so, although her 
fingers are clutching the scissors through the rings. The same 
inability occurs when she is asked to describe the pair of spec- 
tacles she holds ; until the screen is removed and in amazement 
she exclaims, "Ah, but it is a pair of glasses I am holding !" 

The third process, somewhat allied to the foregoing, 
and which Pierre Janet has employed in his experi- 
ments, is that of automatic writing. The spiritists ap- 
pear to have used this first, and with an altogether 
different aim. But we can safely isolate this method 
from all spiritistic belief. 

"In itself the phenomenon of automatic writing con- 
sists simply in this : that the experimenter, while speak- 
ing or singing, writes without looking at the paper. He 
may write many pages, in sequential order, yet without 
possessing the slightest consciousness of what he has 
written." 

Taine, from whom this is quoted,^ says: "The sin- 
cerity of the writer is beyond question, when he states 
that he has no knowledge of what he has written, or 
when on reading his writing he gives expression to 
astonishment, often alarm. ..." 
^De Vintelligence, Taine. 



50 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

To produce this phenomenon the experimenter may 
use the form of suggestion by distraction or suggestion 
in the somnambulistic state. As an example : 

Taking L — 's left hand — which is in an anesthetic state — I 
place a pencil between her fingers while she is talking to others 
and is unconscious of my act. Her fingers clutch the pencil. 
Instead, now, of guiding her hand to write a letter which she 
would continue to write indefinitely, I ask her these questions : 
"How old are you? In what town are we?" And we see the 
hand quickly write the answers, without L — 's attention being 
turned once from her conversation, in which she is actively 
engaged. 

The following is an example of the somnambulistic 
state : 

The suggestions are given while the subject is deeply asleep 
(hypnotic coma). Then she is awakened completely. I now 
order : "When I clap my hands, you must take the paper and 
pencil which are on the table, and write the word Bonjour." 
Instantly, and quite unconsciously, the hand writes the word 
rapidly and clearly. All the while L — remained perfectly un- 
aware of the action of her hand. Now I say: "You will 
multiply in writing, 739 by 12." And again the hand writes, 
stopping only when the operation is completed. During all 
this time L— , fully awake, was explaining to me how she had 
spent the morning ; but her hand never stopped for an instant. 

However, it is not necessary to ask the questions 
during the somnambulistic state, and to wake the sub- 
ject afterward, in order to have her unconsciously write 
the answers. Pierre Janet deems it sufficient to make 
the suggestion during the somnambulistic stage to the 
effect that she must give correctly, when fully awak- 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FOECE 51 

ened, the answers to the questions. Thus automatic 
writing is found allied to suggestion by distraction, as 
shown by the following : 



although fully awake and having been given the sug- 
gestion in a preceding comatic sleep, did not seem to hear 
or see me consciously. She was speaking to all around, but 
not to me. If I then gave a suggestion (by distraction) she 
would reply to it in writing and without being interrupted in 
her conversation with the others. 

Automatic writing can be replaced by other signs. 
Pierre Janet cites : 

I suggest to L — that she may answer my questions by 
squeezing my hand to say "Yes"; and by shaking it to say 
"No." Taking her left hand, which is anesthetized, I ques- 
tion her while she is speaking with other people and is un- 
conscious of my doing so; and she gives me her replies by 
imparting short jerks and hand shakes well adapted to the 
questions. 

It is precisely the same phenomenon which Professor 
Elourney relates * in the case of Helen Smith, whose 
one personality (Leopold) spells the letters with one 
finger while the other personality (Marie- Antoinette) 
uses the vocal organs of the medium. It may be said 
that the pen or the pencil can be replaced by a table, 
an ouiga-board, a planchette, etc. 

Finally, the fourth process consists in what is 
termed crystal vision or crystal gazing. The subject 
is made to gaze into a glass globe placed against a dark 

* Bes Indes a la planete Mars. 



52 OUR HIDDElvr FOECES 

background. Usually, after a short time, images are 
seen and described in quick succession. 
y This phenomenon may be studied from various 

points of views. For instance, one may use it, as did 
the former mesmerists, to test the degree of lucidity or 
clairvoyance. It may very appropriately be used to 
reveal and test various psychological states of the un- 
conscious — dreams, etc. Pierre Janet, to whom one 
must always refer, gives us this example : 

A patient, a somnambulist, got up in the night, and, among 
other things done, wrote a violently insulting letter to some 
one. The letter, taken away from him, was given to me with- 
out his knowledge. On waking, the patient remembered noth- 
ing. A few days later, I experimented upon him with the 
crystal globe. As he professed to see certain written letters, 
I commanded that he take some paper and a pen, and write 
what he saw. Word for word he transcribed what he saw, 
excepting a few letters which were not sufficiently clear. 
While doing so, he had the appearance of copying sentences 
which he did not in the slightest understand. But the real 
fact was that he was transcribing, without knowing it, the 
actual text of the letter he had written a few nights before, 
the copy of which was no more in his possession. 

The vision in the crystal may be used to reveal cer- 
tain subconscious sensations : 

Taking the first finger of the anesthetized patient in my 
hand, I ask him what I am doing. The reply is that he does 
not know. But if placed in front of the crystal globe, he will 
see in it the hand pinching his first finger; then only will 
he be conscious of what is being done to him. If, however, you 
turn his gaze awaj' from the globe, and change the position of 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FOECE 53 

his fingers, he will remain unconscious of the fact until he 
gazes back into the globe, when he will become aware of the 
position you have given his fingers.^ 

SiTcli are the principal means which experimental 
psychology has at her disposal to reveal to our con- 
scious senses all the strange phenomena which our con- 
sciousness is otherwise incapable of reaching, although 
identical in nature to those found in her inner recesses. 

In the same manner, many other facts of a more com- 
plex and a higher order can be proved. 

1. Perceptions, or the various combinations of sen- 
sations, remembrances, and judgments, closely as- 
sociated between themselves and forming actions which 
in appearance are indivisible in relation to determined 
external objects. Such is the case of L — , already 
seen. 

2. Judgments, which are no doubt provoked by the 
sensations, as distinct from the perceptions, in so far 
as they have less to do with objects as with certain rap- 
ports of resemblance, difference, number, etc. An ex- 
ample is given by Pierre Janet : " When I speak out 
two letters of a similar nature, one after the other, you 
will become quite stiff.' Having awakened the subject, 
I mutter the letters, A — C — D — E — A — A. At this 
precise moment the subject becomes rigid and stiff." 
This then is a subconscious judgment of resemblances. 

The following are types of judgTtients of difference: 
"You will fall deeply asleep when you hear me call out 
" Nevroses et idees fixes, Pierre Janet. 



54 OUE HIDDEN FOKCES 

an odd number," or ^^you will turn round when you 
hear me speak a woman's name.'' The results are ex- 
actly the same. The suggestions are implicitly fol- 
lowed when the sign is given. The subject has there- 
fore unconsciously heard, compared and appreciated 
the differences. 

Judgments and reasonings, in more or less lengthy 
sequences, also can be produced outside of the realm of 
consciousness. An example: ''When the sum of the 
numbers which I am about to announce will make a 
total of 10, your hands will throw me kisses." The 
subject at this moment is awakened and led to speak 
with others. From a distance I announce: ''2 — 3 — 1 
— 4." Instantly her hands make the suggested move- 
ment. 

The same results attend various other tests of a still 
more complicated nature. 

3. Actions implying the function of the faculty of 
imagination also may be produced outside of the realm 
of consciousness. 

For example : The subject was given the suggestion 
while in the somnambulistic state that when she awoke 
she would write a letter. The following is what she 
wrote: "Madam: I cannot come next Sunday to see 
you as agreed. Kindly excuse me. It will, however, 
give me much pleasure to come to see you ; but it is im- 
possible for me to accept your invitation to-day. Your 
friend Lucy. — P. S. Many good wishes to the chil- 
dren." This automatic letter was quite correct. It 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEIST FOECE 55 

showed a certain amount of reflection. Lucy, however, 
at the time of writing, was busily engaged in talking 
to people present. When the experiment was ended, 
she could not understand the nature of such a letter ; she 
even declared that the experimenter had personally 
counterfeited her signature. 

Spiritistic mediums in their seances are often seen 
to produce, by means of the table, of alphabetical let- 
ters, automatic writing, etc., many kinds of most com- 
plicated communications. These often present the 
character of scientific, philosophic dissertations. At 
other times they may be in the form of a novel, a poem, 
or some artistic work, which naturally imply the ac- 
tions of reason and of imagination. To these actions 
the medium's consciousness is absolutely foreign. 
Hence the spiritist's inclination to attribute such phe- 
nomena to the action of spirits, or discarnate intelli- 
gences. 

Some beautiful and splendid examples of this can be 
found in Elournoy's book, Des hides a la planete Mars, 
This contains the unconscious creation of a new lan- 
guage purporting to be that of the Martians themselves, 
and includes a vocabulary, grammar, script, etc. 

It goes without saying that memory, which in all 
beings is normally unconscious in function (the con- 
servation of memories) furnishes us with an infinite 
mass of cryptopsychical facts. Experimentally, these 
facts can be manifested through the crystal globe. 

A young person relates that whenever she looked at 



66 OUK HIDDEN FORCES 

herself in a mirror, she was always obsessed by the 
same vision: a house with high black walls, dark and 
sorrowful of aspect, and upon these walls shone a tuft 
of fragrant white jasmine. N^ever, in her belief, had 
she seen such a house. After a short search con- 
ducted by the Psychical Research Society of London, it 
was found that there actually existed such a house as 
described by the person in question. Evidently, she 
had passed it by, without ever noticing it. 

Another person, made to gaze into the crystal ball, 
sees a number in it. "This number I have never seen. 
Why should it be 3244 rather than any other?" she 
exclaims. Subsequently it was demonstrated that she 
had, in the course of the day, changed a bank note bear- 
ing that number. 

A third person, somewhat mystically inclined, while 
gazing into the crystal ball, sees a newspaper article. 
She finds this most strange. She seeks to decipher it; 
and succeeds. It contains the announcement of the 
death of one of her friends. She cites this fact to those 
immediately around her, who are naturally stupefied. 
. . . On searching the house, a newspaper is found, 
stuck in front of the chimney as a screen, and on the 
visible side of this appears the article with the same 
characters and display as she had seen in the crystal 
ball. This case is precisely of the same nature as that 
already related concerning the somnambulist's letter 
writing, and of which no conscious memory had been 
kept. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEE^ FORCE 57 

Thus it will be seen that all the intellectual phe- 
nomena are capable of assuming the aspect of a crypto- 
psychical form. The same may be said of the muscular 
phenomena, of actions proper. This is proved by the 
method of '^suggestion by distraction.'' 

Could we, however, provoke and observe the actions 
of the willj, of resolutions and decisions belonging to the 
subconscious ? This would be most interesting to study ; 
and yet we are unaware of its being studied. 

The emotions also can pass from the conscious to the 
subconscious range of action. But as every emotion is 
ordinarily connected with an idea, it is difficult to know 
if the latent persistence of the emotion be not a simple 
consequence of the latent persistence of the idea with 
which it is being associated. In order to dissociate the 
two phenomena it would be necessary to resort to cer- 
tain experiments which we believe have not yet been 
conducted. And so the works of Lang and of William 
James would find an interesting verification. 

In the actual state of our researches, however, the 
question of subconscious emotions is but another aspect 
of that of subconscious fixed ideas. According to Pierre 
Janet, these fixed ideas, in all points analogous to 
hypnotic suggestion (therefore subconscious) have their 
source in an emotion, in an ordinary incident, which at 
a given moment strikes the mind of the patient. It is 
true that emotion is a potent factor in distraction, 
anesthesia, amnesia — in a word, of unconsciousness. 

Emotion appears to possess an inverse action or role 



58 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

to that which has been attributed to will and attention. 
That which characterizes these two functions is a syn- 
thetical activity, the construction of systems all the 
more complex and edified with the elements of thought, 
sensations and images. These systems form the resolu- 
tions, the perceptions and judgments, the memory, and 
the personal consciousness. Emotion, on the contrary, 
seems to be given the power of dissociation, of analysis. 
Except in extreme cases, it does not really destroy the 
elements of thought. It allows them to subsist, disag- 
gTegated and isolated from each other, to such an extent 
as to give the impression, at times, of being suspended 
in action. It is, then, in this state of disaggregation 
and isolation one might say that they become, as it 
were, exteriorized from the personal Consciousness of 
the subject. 

The result of most observations in the field of fixed 
ideas leads to the finding of some violent emotion at 
their origin, which contributed to their fixation; while 
subtracted from the consciousness, it produces the vari- 
ous derangements in the intellectual and vital func- 
tions, which tend to reappear at the least opportunity. 

The following is a good example : "A patient, among 
other hysterical symptoms, falls into violent attacks 
and without apparent reason. She has a horror of the 
color red. But while in the somnambulistic state, she 
will explain that her attacks are provoked by the re- 
production of an emotion dating several years back. 
She had see.n the dead body of her father at the time 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FOKCE 59 

when tlie coffin was being nailed dow^n! And in each 
attack she sees, anew, this painful spectacle. She ex- 
plains her horror of the color red, by the remembrance 
she has of the red flowers laid over the coffin of her 
father.^ 

II 

The foregoing facts belonged to what we have called 
Elementary or Fragmentary Cryptopsychism. That is 
to say, they compose, as it were, small subjacent islands 
to the series of conscious phenomena of which the per- 
sonality of every day is composed. It can also be that, 
under certain ill-defined circumstances, other facts of 
this nature conglomerate, so as to form a succession of 
veritable continents. In this manner they, then, pre- 
sent the aspect of secondary personalities, of a more or 
less permanent order, and co-existing with the principal 
personality. 

They belong to what we have called Synthetic or Or- 
ganized Cryptopsychism. Automatic writing is the 
method whereby we vdll be able experimentally to pro- 
duce this transformation. 

Quoting again Dr. Pierre Janet : 

Having noted the surprising intelligence of the secondary 
personality which was manifested in the automatic writing of 

^ Dr. Pierre Janet, Nevroses et idees -fixes. Cases of emotional 
contractions observed among hysterical patients: ''The contrac- 
tion persists, owing to the persistence of the emotion, which always 
is followed by the same physiological and psychological conse- 
quences. It is, in a way, a congealed emotion. ' ' 



60 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

L — , I opened, one day, the following conversation, while her 
normal self was engaged in talking to some one else. 

"Do you hear me?" I asked. 

Writing, she replied, "No." 

"Since you answer, then you hear me?" 

"Yes, absolutely," she wrote automatically. 

"Well, then, how do you do it?" 

"I do not know." 

"There must be some one who hears me and listens f" 

"Yes." 

"Who is it?" 

"Other than Lucy." 

"Ah! It is another person. Do you want us to give her a 
name?" 

"No." 

"Yes! It will be easier.'' 

"Well, it is Adrienne." 

"Then, Adrienne, do you hear me?" 

"Yes!" 

'NoWy baptized, the subconscious personality is 
clearer, more defined and distinct in its psychological 
characteristics. It shows especially that it has knowl- 
edge of these sensations, neglected by the primary or 
conscious ordinary personality of every day. It is he 
who exclaims when the arm, hand, or finger is being 
pricked or pinched, while the other personality has long 
lost every tactile sensation. 

One of the first characteristics manifested by this 
secondary self is a marked preference for certain peo- 
ple. Adrienne, for instance, who is well disposed to- 
ward Dr. Janet, does not take the trouble to converse 
with any or every one. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FORCE 61 

When the cryptopsychical phenomena are isolated, 
they can be provoked by the first-comer. But when 
grouped in personalities, they manifest strong prefer- 
ences; not only do they refuse to obey, but they even 
resist a stranger's suggestions. 

This personality, ordinarily, has little will of its 
own. It obeys the least orders, although expressing 
much indocility, and as it progresses it seems to ac- 
quire a greater capacity for resistance and spontaneity. 
It is also possible to provoke, in the same subject, the 
formation of several latent personalities, superposed, 
as it were. Thus Pierre Janet produced in Leonie, 
Leontine; and below this a third personage, Leonore, 
quite different from the others. 

Organized cryptopsychism is not exclusively of ex- 
perimental origin. Spontaneous cases are to be found 
in certain diseases and among certain spiritistic 
seances. 

The following is an interesting case. It is that of a 
patient of the Salpetriere, in 1891, presenting all the 
various signs of ''diabolical possession" as described in 
medieval writings on epidemics. This patient's double 
personality was not mistakable. One, that of his ordi- 
nary self ; the other, that of the devil who spoke through 
his mouth, words and imprecations of the most violent 
and obscene nature. 

The doctor's efforts to control the devil through sug- 
gestion administered to the patient, were of no avail; 
nor were all attempts at inducing the patient in the 



62 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

hypnotic state. Dr. Janet, however, seizing his oppor- 
tunity, when the patient's attention was being distracted 
in another direction, was fortunate enough to place a 
pencil in his hand and obtain from him a few auto- 
matically written answers. 

Placing himself behind the patient, Dr. Janet gave 
in low tones certain commands which produced no ef- 
fects. 

After a while, the hand which held the pencil began 
to write: "I won't." 

"And why won't you ? 

"Because I am much stronger than you." 

"Who are you ? 

"I am the Devil." 

"Ah! Very well then, we are going to talk to- 
gether." 

And from this time onward the experimenter was 
able to have many executions of actions carried out, 
against the will, even without the knowledge, of the 
patient. Finally the "devil" was asked, as a last proof 
of his power, to put the patie^nt to sleep, deeply and 
without resistance on his part. Thus Dr. Janet ob- 
tained the state of somnambulistic sleep which he had 
been unable to produce by direct hypnotization ; and 
during this sleep the "possessed" patient confessed that 
the real cause of his illness was due to a grave fault 
committed on a journey. This confession led to a 
complete recovery afterward. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FOECE 63 

Examples of a similar nature can be found among 
reports of spiritistic seances. 'Ko doubt tbe advocates of 
spiritism will contend tbat the secondary personalities 
manifested by the mediums are in all reality inde- 
pendent beings, and it would appear that certain ob- 
servations made with the American medium, Mrs. 
Piper, would give these assertions an appearance of veri- 
similitude.'^ But it will be admitted that it is anti- 
scientific to have recourse to the '^spirit'' hypothesis, so 
long as an hypothesis, simpler and in conformity with 
the ensemble of knowledge, enables us to record the 
facts under observation. And this is true with a great 
number of mediumistic communications. 



ni 

Having reviewed the various forms of cryptopsy- 
chism, we will try to show how it is possible to explain 
them. 

In the normal man we find an elementary crypto- 
psychism in the various phenomena of distraction, in- 
stinct, habit, and 'passion. 

The man with a preoccupied mind will brush away a 
fly from his forehead without feeling it; he will reply 
to questions he has not heard; or, like Biren, the Duke 
of Courlande, he will, quite unconsciously, tear with 
his teeth an important commercial document. Who 
has not heard of those absent-minded people who, when 

' Human personality, Frederic Myers, 



64 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

speaking at table, keep on filling their cups with sugar 
until P 

Pierre Janet says: "Real voluntary actions are 
rare, and many of our actions are, in part if not totally, 
automatic.'' He then goes on to explain the subcon- 
scious motions, such as rhythmic motions due to the 
hearing of music, as well as those afforded in the 
"willing game." 

Condillac already had remarked the dissociation of 
personality created by habit. There are, he says, two 
selves, the Self of Habit or Custom, and the Self of 
Reflection. It is the first self who feels, sees, and 
directs all our animal faculties; its object is to guide 
the body and to keep it from accidents, to preside con- 
tinuously over the speech faculty when in action. The 
second self, giving over to the other all these details, 
goes in quest of other things. But although these two 
selves appear to pursue each a personal end, they often 
act together. For instance, a mathematician occupied 
in the solution of an important problem will have the 
objects of his mind continuously acting upon his senses. 
The self which guides the body through the crowded 
thoroughfares of New York, London, or Paris, still 
obeys their impulsions, whereas the reflective self will 
be all the while engaged in the finding of a solution. 

Xavier de Maistre, in his book. Voyage autour de 
ma chamhre {A Journey Around My Room), gives a 
most descriptive picture of this dissociation of the per- 
^ L'automatisme psychologique, Pierre Janet. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FOECE 65 

sonality during distraction, habit, and passion. He 
says: "I have found that man is composed of two 
entities: a man and a beast. These two beings are 
absolutely distinct, but so closely allied to each other 
that it requires a certain superiority of the soul over 
the beast, to enable the distinction to be perceived. 

"Having painted all the morning, I decided to go to 
Court, for a change. I was conscious while walking, 
that my soul was enraptured with the sublimity of the 
art of painting — given to all kinds of uplifting reflec- 
tions upon color and ^Nature. And while thus inwardly 
engaged, the other (the body) had walked so far to the 
left that when my soul caught it up, she found it half 
a mile away from the Palais Royal, at the door of 
Madame de Haut-Castel !" 

Cryptopsychism takes such importance among hys- 
terical subjects that one wonders if it may not be the 
very foundation of hysteria, or its principal symptom 
whereby all others may be explained. Hysteria, says 
Dr. Janet, is by far the most favorable ground for the 
development of automatic phenomena. 

It has already been seen that automatic phenomena 
always imply the presence of subconscious psychological 
states. Yet this author admits that "hysteria is but a 
particular, complex state of another more general and 
simple, a state which is not normally healthy but which, 
for all that, may not be uniquely hysterical.'' This 
state, according to him, is in greater frequency than 
hysteria. It would encompass among its manifestations 



66 OUK HIDDEI^ FORCES 

all the hysterical symptoms ; but it would reveal itself, 
also, in fixed ideas, impulses, anesthesia due to distrac- 
tion, automatic writing, and somnambulism. 

Of what then does this malady ^ consist ? 

Since all the extremely varied phenomena of automa- 
tism have, as an essential condition, an anesthetic state 
or a state of distraction, the conclusion should be that 
this diseased state is allied to a shrinkage of the con- 
sciousness; and this shrinkage is due to the weakness 
of the synthesis and the disaggregation of the mental 
composites in several smaller groups, smaller than they 
should normally be. In a word, this state "is a moral 
weakness of a particular order, consisting in the im- 
potency of the subject to condense his psychological 
phenomena or to assimilate them." A weakness of as- 
similation is termed physiological misery ; for the same 
reason it might be suggested that this moral disease be 
called psychological miser ere. 

In any case, whatever the depth of the physical sub- 
stratum of this mental misery, its most constant sign 
is, without question, cryptopsychism. In other words, 
it is the tendency which certain psychological phe- 
nomena possess to decentralize themselves from the 
central consciousness, to constitute by its side certain 
focuses of consciousness of a secondary and less per- 
sistent order. 

Therefore, the majority of hysterical symptoms be- 
long to cryptopsychism, as may be realized by the list 
* La maladie hysterique. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEIS^ FOECE 67 

of such symptoms: fixed ideas, anesthesia, amnesia, 
paralysis, contractions, etc. It might also be stated, in 
confirmation of what Dnrand (de Gros) and Pierre 
Janet said, that it could be considered as the "key of 
all hypnotic phenomena." And, better still, it might 
contain in itself the explanatory key to suggestion itself. 

Alone, hysteria would enable one to grasp the me- 
chanic complexity of such prima facie inexplicable sug- 
gestion-phenomena, as post-hypnotic suggestions at long 
periods. 

Does cryptopsychism contain in itself an integral ex- 
planation of spiritism ? 

In our opinion, this question is not susceptible of a 
definite answer. It is, however, certain that crypto- 
psychism intervenes constantly in mediumistic phe- 
nomena: automatic writing, incarnation or "control" 
manifestation, planchette, etc. It is evident that if the 
secondary personality were real, in certain cases, we 
should be confronted by a new fact — one which could 
not then be explained by ordinary psychological laws. 
But in the majority of cases the hypothesis of the in- 
tervention of a foreign personality is absolutely un- 
necessary, and therefore, until better information is 
gathered, the present exposition of cryptopsychism 
suffices. 

The same applies to cases of so-called "demoniacal 
possessions," so frequent during the Middle Age period. 

Summarizing, we may say that cryptopsychism is a 
general explanatory principle, which experimental psy- 



es OUE HIDDEN rOECES 

chology should never lose sight of in the study of phe- 
nomena more or less abnormal or paradoxical in human 
nature. 

IV 

How can cryptopsycMsm he explained? 

The first and most ancient hypothesis is given by 
Durand (de Gros) as that of polyzoism and of human 
polypsychism. He says: 

''There is not only one psychological being in man; 
there are legions. Certain consciousness phenomena^ and 
those which remain foreign to our consciousness, take 
place in other consciousnesses, associated with them in 
the human organism, in an anatomical hierarchy as 
represented by the series of nerve centers of the gang- 
lionary system.^^ 

Purely as a matter of reference we mention here the 
hypothesis of cerebral duality and the functional inde- 
pendence of the two cerebral hemispheres to which 
scientists have resorted, in order to explain the develop- 
ment of the two parallel consciousnesses in the somnam- 
bulistic and spiritistic phenomena.^ ^ 

May we, in Dr. Grasset's hypothesis of the polygon, 
and of the center ^^0/' see an explanatory attempt, or 
else an easy way to get out of the heavy task at explain- 
ing the facts ? 

"Ze merveilleux scientifique. 

^^ La dualite cerebrale et V independence fonctionnelle des 

hemispheres cerebraux, Berillon; Mude clinique experimentale, 

Magnin; Multiple Personality, Myers. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FOECE 69 

This is what he says: "There are two forms of 
psychism, two categories of psychical actions: (1) 
Superior, voluntary and independent; (2) Inferior and 
automatic. In other words, a superior psychism and 
an inferior one. 

"To each category of these acts necessarily corre- 
spond different groupings of centers or groupings of 
neurons. Therefore we find: (1) Simple reflex cen- 
ters; (2) Superior reflex centers, inferior automatism 
and non-psychic; (3) Centers of superior psychic 
automatism; (4) Centers of conscious, superior psy- 
chism, responsible and independent. 

"O represents the superior psychic center, consti- 
tuted by a great number of distinct neurons: it is the 
center of the personal self, conscious, independent, and 
responsible. Below is the polygon A-V-T-E-M-K of the 
automatic superior centers. On one side of this are 
the sensorial centers of reception: A, center of audi- 
tion; V, center of vision; and T, center of general 
sensibility. On the other side, the motor centers of 
transmission: K, kinetic center; M, center of articu- 
late speech; and E, graphic center (writing). 

"All of these centers, located in the gray substance 
of the cerebral circumvolutions, are connected by intra- 
cortical and intrapolygonal fibers. On the periphery, 
they are connected by centripetal and centrifugal sub- 
polygonal ducts ; all of these being ultimately connected 
with the superior center O by subpolygonal ducts : ideo- 



70 OUE HIDDEIT FOECES 

sensorial or centripetal, ideo-motor or centrifugal." ^^ 

Here are a few examples : 

"When Archimedes goes along the street, lie walks 
with Ms "polygon and shouts ''Eureka" with his 0, 
When your neighbor indefinitely fills up your glass as 
to inundate the rest of the table, he does so with his 
polygon, although his O does not remain inactive. He 
is engaged in speaking — so busily engaged in the con- 
versation that he forgets his polygon. In the distrac- 
tion a disjoining of the two psychisms occur; but there 
is no annulment of the O. 

"Condillac distinguished in him the self of hahit 
and the self of reflection. The first is polygonal while 
the second is in O. During sleep, O is at rest, while the 
polygon persists. 

"The characteristic state of suggestibility in hyp- 
notism is constituted by two psychic elements, equally 
essential: 

"1. The subpolygonal dissociation, or the suppression 
of the action of O upon the subject's own polygon. 

"2. The state of malleability of the polygon, or the 
emancipation of the subject's polygon from his own O ; 
while keeping his own activity, the subject obeys im- 
mediately and absolutely to the center O of the mes- 
merist, so that the hypnosis in a subject is the substi- 
tution of the O of the hypnotist for the center in the 
hypnotized subject, etc." 

"Pe Vautomatisme psychologique and Legons de cUnique medi- 
cale, Dr. Grasset. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN^ FOKCE 71 

After all, it would appear as if Dr. Grasset's hy- 
pothesis were but an ingenious fashion to express, 
schematically, in terms of cerebral anatomy and cerebral 
physiology, the other hypothesis, that of Dr. Pierre 
Janet upon mental disaggregation and the shrinking of 
the field of consciousness ; both of them suffering, as it 
were, from a debility of the power of synthesis or from 
the state of psychological misery. 

This time we find ourselves, however, in the pres- 
ence of a purely psychological explanation, at least so 
far as giving the title of explanation to a theory which, 
after all, only summarizes the facts in a general in- 
terpretation. 

Erom this principle, it would seem, is derived the 
suspension or the enfeebling of a certain power, of a 
certain operation (let it be v/hat you will) which is the 
common b^sis for will and judgment, and which may 
be characterized by the words ^ ^synthesis'' and "crea- 
tion." 

It would seem as if there were in the mind two dif- 
ferent activities, which complement each other or op- 
pose each other, as the case may be. The ancient phi- 
losophers were prone to say: "To be, is to move and 
create; and consciousness, which is in the supreme de- 
gree a reality, is thereby an active force." 

Were we to attempt to represent its nature to our 
eyes, we would find it, above all, a synthetical activity 
which unites all the given phenomena, more or less 
numerous, into a new one, differing in the elements. 



72 OUR HIDDElsr FORCES 

It is a veritable creation. It is impossible to say which 
are the first elements thus combined by the work of 
the consciousness. That which is certain, however, is 
the existence in nature of degrees of synthesis and 
organization more and more complex. 

In the same way that all beings composed of one cell 
are similar, and that all beings composed of several 
cells begin to take on distinct forms, the vague con- 
sciousness of pain and pleasure gradually becomes sen- 
sations of a determined order and of different kinds. 
These sensations subsequently organize themselves in 
the more complex states exhibited by general emotions. 
Certain minds go farther still. They synthetize these 
perceptions in judgments, general ideas, moral, artistic, 
and scientific conceptions. 

At all these various degrees "the nature of conscious- 
ness is always the same.^' However, there also exists 
in the human mind "a secondary activity," which is 
called the conservation of energy. The syntheses once 
constructed cannot be destroyed: their unity cannot be- 
come altered, and their elements are preserved in the 
order in which they were. From the moment one 
places oneself in favorable circumstances, one may wit- 
ness emotions and sensations being prolonged, with all 
their character, and as long as possible. Further than 
this: if the preceding synthesis be not fully given out, 
if but part of its elements exist in the mind, this con- 
servation of energy will go toward completing it, and 
the absent elements will be added in the order and 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDE:N^ FOECE 73 

manner necessary to reconstitute the original whole. 
Whereas the preceding energy tended to create, the lat- 
ter tends to repeat and conserve. The most important 
manifestation of the first was to synthetize ; the distinct 
character of the second is that of association of ideas 
and memory. 

These two energies subsist together; on their com- 
plete equilibrium depends the health of the body and 
the harmony of the mind. When the mind is normal, 
only certain inferior acts are abandoned to "automa- 
tism"; these, given the same conditions, may repeat 
themselves in the same manner. But this automatism 
is always active to produce effectively at every moment 
of life those ever new combinations, incessantly neces- 
sary to maintain its equilibrium with the change of 
surrounding conditions. 

Should this creative mind energy be brought sud- 
denly to a stop, after having since the beginning of life 
accumulated a mass of automatic tendencies, the mind 
would become entirely unbalanced, left, without control, 
to the action of one force only. The phenomena then 
produced would no longer he in new syntheses; they 
would no longer be molded to form at every moment of 
life the personal consciousness of the individual. These 
elements would naturally reenter their ancient groups, 
and then automatically be brought into the combina- 
tions which formerly had their reason of existence. 

There is no doubt that if a mind of this kind be 
carefully maintained in immutable and artificial sur- 



74 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

roundings ; if, having suppressed the possible alteration 
of circumstances, one eliminates from it the drudgery 
of thinking/^ it may be capable of subsisting for some 
time, though in a feeble and distracted state. If, how- 
ever, the surroundings become modified in any way by 
certain accidents and changes of circumstances, these 
will demand such efforts of adaptations and of new 
syntheses from the mind as to generate in it the most 
complete disorder. 

It may be asked if the above interpretation concords 
well with the details of all the facts which we have 
enumerated hitherto, and if it takes into sufiicient con- 
sideration the tendency of the cryptopsychic law of the 
conservation of energy, which in a great number of 
cases is responsible for the creation of a new personality 
and for the manifestation, under this form, of powers 
of perception, memory, imagination and reason equal, 
even superior, to those of the creative energy, normally 
identical with the central or habitual personality. 

It may be due to these facts that certain authors, 
who, thinking the phenomena of easier access for obser- 
vation with mediums, or sensitives, than with hysterical 
subjects, thought to modify, in a larger sense though 
less scientifically accurate, the hypothesis of Janet. In 
the belief that they would discover in the subconscious 
activities certain faculties which the faculties of the 
conscious energies do not possess (perturbating, cura- 
tive, telepathic, thought transmission or penetration, 

^^ ' * And of willing ' ' might be added. 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEN FORCE 75 

exteriorization of tlie sensibility and of the motricity, 
etc.), they concluded that the former was in reality 
superior to the latter, and was not of infra-normal 
order, but supra-normal. 

Such is the development of the hypothesis, with cer- 
tain variations of detail more or less important, by 
spiritistic-inclined authors, such as Aksakoff,^* Dr. E. 
Gyey^ and Professor Fr. Myers ^^ as shown in his 
posthumous work. 

Says Aksakoff : "As soon as the personality, or the 
external consciousness, is asleep, there arises something 
else that thinks and wills. This is not identical with 
the sleeper, and it manifests itself in characteristic 
ways. It is an individuality of which we are not cog- 
nizant, although it knows the sleeper and remembers 
his actions and thoughts. If we wish to admit the 
spiritistic theory, it is clear that this interior nucleus is 
the individual principle which survives the body; and 
everything which belonged to its terrestrial personality 
shall be but a matter of memory." 

Dr. E. Gyel says: "The psychic being should be 
divided into two parts: (1) The conscious self, repre- 
senting the less important part; and (2) the subcon- 
scious self which constitutes the principal part. The 
conscious self depends, for the greater part, upon the 

^* Animism and Spiritism, Aksakoff. 
^^ L'titre subconscient, Dr. E. Gyel. 
^® Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death, Frederic 

Myers. 



76 OUK HIDDEN FOKCES 

functions of tlie organism, and is inseparable from it; 
the subconscious self comprises force, intelligence and 
matter, and is capable of perceptions and of actions 
wbich for the greater part are inaccessible to the direct 
and immediate knowledge and will of the normal being. 
Largely independent of the functions of the organism, 
it is capable of exteriorization, projection, or dissocia^ 
tion. It is the synthetical product of the actual con- 
sciousness and of the anterior consciousnesses. After 
death, the conscious self disappears, but its integral 
memory persists in the subconscious. Its psychical ele- 
ments remain in unison, in the subconscious synthesis, 
with the psychic elements of the anterior consciousness 
which constituted it. To summarize, it would appear 
that the subconscious self should be the real self, the 
permanent self; whereas the conscious being should be 
but the apparent and transitory personality. The in- 
dividuality, then, would be the synthesis of the suc- 
cessive personalities in integral conservation." 

^'The conscious self, as we call it,'' says Fr. Myers, 
"the empirical, supraliminal self, as I would prefer to 
call it, does not comprise the totality of the conscious- 
ness or the power which is in ourselves. There exists a 
deeper and more comprehensive consciousness, which, 
for the greater part, remains potential in all that re- 
gards the terrestrial life, but of which the consciousness 
and power of the terrestrial life are but limitations, 
and which becomes reconstituted only in the liberating 
change of death. ... I consider every man as being 



THOUGHT: THE HIDDEIST FORCE 77 

one, yet infinitely composite; as the heir to an inheri- 
tance from his terrestrial ancestors of a multiple and 
^colonial' organism — polyzoidal and perhaps polypsy- 
chical — to an extreme degree; but also as the governor 
and unifier of his organism through a soul or spirit 
which, as yet, surpasses our present analysis: a soul 
wJiich has its origin in a spiritual or superetJieric am- 
bient and which, even when incarnate, continues to 
exist in this ambient, and shall continue to exist therein 
after bodily death/' 

One might go even farther. One might ask whether 
this transcendental or subliminal self is not necessarily 
individual, and whether it does not go beyond the limits 
of the organisms in which each has its own being; 
whether it does not constitute a sort of universal, com- 
mon ground in which the different spirits are all 
plunged and in which they all more or less penetrate 
each other. 

Thus would be given a pantheistic or monistic form 
to the monadic or pluralistic hypothesis of Er. Myers 
and of Dr. Gyel. It is also toward this conception that 
Mr. Goupil inclines. He says ^'^ that ^^the cerebral 
functions of human beings are collected in one general 
intellect — which is manifested in the phenomena." 

It would seem to us premature to attempt an ex- 
planation of the phenomena, apparently so complicated 
and so obscure. The only hypotheses scientifically pos- 
sible of admission are those which may help in the 

" Pour et Contre. Becherches dans I 'inconnu, Goupil. 



78 OUE HIDDEI^ FORCES 

direction of researches while suggesting various and 
precise experiments. This, however, is not the char- 
acter of those experiments we have reviewed. 

There will be time to elaborate a general explanation 
of cryptopsychism when, through the rigorous appli- 
cation of the experimental method, the effects and con- 
ditions of cryptopsychism — that which we may call, 
with Claude Bernard, its determinism — shall be sci- 
entifically established. Until then, the efforts of all 
the would-be seekers will have to be directed toward that 
end : to establish this determinism. 



CHAPTEE III 

Animal Magnetism in the Light op !N^ew Investi- 
gations 



The first men who observed the singular phenomena 
obtained by mesmeric or magnetic processes attributed 
them to the action of a force emanating from the op- 
erator and radiating toward the subject. With Mes- 
mer (1779) and the Marquis de Puysegur (1784), 
they believed this force to be analogous in nature to 
that radiated by an ordinary magnet. Hence the name 
^^animal magnetism." 

According to them, the gaze, the passes, the imposi- 
tion of the hands, or the breath, are apt to produce 
contraction, relaxation, excitation, or paralysis of the 
vital functions, as well as of the intellectual faculties, 
because these organs serve as vehicles for its trans- 
mission from one nervous system to another. 

It matters little, after all, what name be given to it, 
or under what manner one may conceive it. Whoever 
admits of a physical influence capable of being trans- 
mitted, at a distance, between two living beings, pro- 

79 



80 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

fesses unconsciously the hypothesis of animal magnet- 
ism, under its simplest and more general form. 

Every one remembers more or less the captivating 
experiments conducted by Dr. Pierre Janet in Havre, 
in 1885 (embodied in a report^ under the modest cap- 
tion: ^'Notes on a few Somnambulistic Phenomena"). 
In these various experiments, the subject had been in- 
duced into a comatic sleep, through a mental order sent 
by the operator posted at distances varying from a few 
hundred yards to two kilometers. Furthermore, this 
was done under the strictest of conditions, excluding 
every hazard, simulation, or possible "suggestion" in- 
fluence. 

Not wishing to suppose that the experimenters had 
deceived themselves, or that their purpose had been 
to deceive their audience, I wondered whether the an- 
cient hypothesis of animal magnetism, in a more or less 
modified expression, were not the source of all these 
facts, while excluding academical theories of hypnotism 
and suggestion. 

I then decided to experiment personally along that 
line ; and I became puzzled at various phenomena which 
I obtained. A "something" different from suggestion 
or hypnotism peered through, although it remained 
illusive, as you will see. 

One of my first subjects to experiment upon, Robert 
C, a young mechanic, nineteen years old, induced into 

^ This report Dr. Pierre Janet read before the * ' Societe de 
psyehologie physiologique. ' ' {Eevue Fhilosophiquej XXI.) 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM 81 

a state of contraction beforehand, was always conscious 
of a ^^heat" sensation above bis rigbt band while I was 
operating with my right hand ; and as soon as I took my 
hand away, his would rise as if drawn upward. But 
when I bid him close his eyes, this phenomena did not 
occur. Hence I believed that this pretended magnetic 
effect was but the result of pure auto-suggestion. 

Would it, then, be to the same cause that one should 
attribute the well-known effect obtained by the Moutin 
method ? When applying one's opened hands upon the 
shoulder-blades, with thumbs closing in upon the spinal 
cord, the patient falls backward as if drawn by some 
irresistible power. This phenomenon I had obtained 
many times independently of any spoken suggestion. 

But one might say that the action of placing the 
hands upon the subject's back is equivalent to ''tacit" 
suggestion. I was, however, still more perplexed by 
certain observations made with female subjects, when, 
after having repeated the experiment a number of times, 
the subject felt irresistibly drawn backward, even, if I 
stood still, with hands in my pockets. At other times, 
I was surprised to succeed in obtaining attraction with 
subjects upon whom I experimented for the first time, 
and who were entirely ignorant as to what was going 
to take place. The same results, I obtained in placing 
my hands at distances of 5 to 6 centimeters behind their 
backs. 

I also succeeded in drawing a medical friend of mine, 
most sensitive to this process, while interposing an- 



82 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

other person, entirely incredulous of these things, be- 
tween my hands and his back, the latter barely touching 
my friend with the finger-tips. Every movement to 
draw away my hands from the back of the interposed 
person was immediately followed by the falling back- 
ward of my medical friend. But could not one also 
hold to the supposition that these effects were cases of 
auto-suggestions created by unconscious and subcon- 
scious perceptions, as those which appear to explain 
the Cumberland experiments? 

My doubts persisted, even after having obtained 
some still more extraordinary phenomena. 

Eor the past six months I have had in my service a 
young man from the Pyrenees, Jean M., extremely sen- 
sitive to hypnotic influence. The following are the 
notes as I find them in my note-book ; 

"All I need do is to hold my hand at a distance from 
his elbow, or any part of his body; this being followed 
by jerks, movements, contractions, etc. Without these, 
nothing happens. This is true when he is entirely 
unconscious of my doings, while his back is turned, or 
when he is engaged in conversation, etc. Several times, 
when asleep normally, it was sufficient for me to stretch 
out my hand above his stomach, at a distance of 8 to 10 
centimeters, to see his abdomen swell up, as if drawn 
out, until it would contract when the distance became 
too great.'' 

Was this, perhaps, but a simple phenomenon of hyper- 
esthesia of touch, or was it magnetism ? 



AISTIMAL MAGIsTETISM 83 

The first hypothesis, that of hyperesthesia, became 
niore difficult of admission in my next experiment : 

It was on a January Sunday afternoon, 1893. My 
servant, Jean M., had gone to his room to rest, being 
fatigued from his duties. Going upstairs, I found him 
in bed, fully dressed, the head resting in the angle op- 
posite the door, the arms crossed upon his chest, the legs 
crossed and the feet slightly protruding from the blan- 
kets. The idea came to my head, as I stood in the door- 
way, a distance of about 3 meters from the sleeper, to 
hold my right hand, outstretched, in the direction and 
at the height of his feet. Had I held an electric pro- 
jector, the feet would have been directly in its light. 
After a few seconds, I slowly raised my hand; and to 
my entire stupefaction, I saw the feet of the sleeping 
man rise in the air by muscular contraction, and follow 
the ascensional movement of my hand. Three times I 
repeated the experiment ; three times it succeeded, with 
the precision and the regularity of an instrument of 
physics. 

Enthusiastic at this result, I called for a witness, in 
the person of Madame B., and asked hereto be as quiet 
as possible. The experiments were repeated, and were 
followed by the identical results. At this juncture 
Madame B. suggested; ^'Try to do it by thought 
projection." I then fixed my attentive eyes upon the 
feet of the sleeping man ; and, raising my gaze slowly, 
what was our astonishment to see his feet follow the 



84 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

movement of my eyes, now ascending, now stopping and 
descending as the gaze from my eyes did. 

Madame B. then took hold of my left hand, and with 
her other hand she did as I had done — with the same 
successful results. But as soon as she let go of my 
hand she ceased to exert any action whatsoever. 

On Jean's waking, a half hour afterward, he com- 
plained of slight pains in the legs and of convulsions 
in the knees; these I had to calm with the aid of sug- 
gestion and friction. 

II 

The preceding discoveries, though interesting, were 
not sufficient, however, to dissipate from my mind the 
shadow of doubt placed there by former events. It was 
due to pure chance circumstances that my attention was 
drawn to a new series of experiments, which would at 
last give me the certainty of the real existence of animal 
magnetism. 

I feel that I must introduce, first of all, a few details 
regarding the subject with whom the experiments were 
conducted. 

G. P., an electrical engineer, was for the first time in- 
duced into the comatic sleep, through the fixation of my 
gaze, in the year 1892. He was then eighteen, and per- 
fectly healthy and normal. Rather dreamy, and cer- 
tainly quickly responsive to suggestion and hypnotic 
induction, as I had had the opportunity to note during 
our sittings from time to time from 1892 to 1894. I 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM 85 

liad entirely lost sight of him when I met him again in 
1894 and when I decided to renew my experimenting 
with him. 

From the first sitting, I remarked the following par- 
ticularities : 

When under the influence of my right hand placed 
before his forehead, G. P. goes through three various 
states. In 30 seconds he is fully plunged into the first 
state, called by some credulity, by others suggestibility, 
and which is characterized by the three following states : 
amnesia, cannot remember anything, name, address, 
etc. ; absolute suggestibility, believes, feels and smells 
everything suggested to him; persistence of sev^tive- 
ness and of voluntary movements, his arms drop when 
raised, he feels pin-pricks and other tests unless paraly- 
sis and anesthesia be produced through suggestion. 

When placing my hand for a second time to his fore- 
head for 30 seconds he passes in the second state, 
cataleptoidal. His arms, legs, etc., keep the positions I 
give them, and automatically repeat the motions im- 
parted to them ; independently from all suggestion there 
is complete skin insensibility; he does not reply to all 
the questions asked him. 

For the third time I hold my hand to his forehead, 
for 30 seconds. The subject closes his eyes, recovers 
the faculty of speech, and his intellectual faculties. He 
has now reached the state of somnambulism. 

If I now hold my left hand, instead of my right hand, 
to his forehead, while he is still somnambulistic, this 



8Q OUK HIDDEN FOECES 

will have the effect of getting him back into the second 
state. And placing my hand there for the third time, 
he returns to the first state ; until at the fourth presen- 
tation of my hand, he becomes quite re-awakened. 

All this I have obtained without verbal suggestion. 

These three states can also be produced through sug- 
gestion. Having suggested that, on hearing the words 
Mane, Thecel, and Phares, he would immediately fall 
into the corresponding hypnotic states, G. P. did so. 
This effect remained permanent, even after 8 months' 
interval. 

Besides the singularity of hand 'polarity — ^the right 
provoking induction and the left provoking awakening 
— I had never observed in this subject, phenomena 
coming under the head of the various schools of hyp- 
notism and of suggestion, until some unexpected phe- 
nomena led me into another path. 

On a Sunday morning G. P. came into my study 
where I was, and, sitting on a chair at the side of my 
table, rested his arm upon it and kept busily talking to 
a third person present, while I put the finishing touches 
to a letter I was then writing. As my fingers, just 
outstretched from dropping my pen, pointed toward his 
elbow, I saw to my surprise that his elbow was moved 
as if drawn by my hand. 

Without a word or a sign that might draw G. P.'s 
attention to my doings, I lifted my own elbow, while 
he was still talking, and his elbow rose simultaneously. 
But, as if the attraction, becoming stronger, had cor- 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM 87 

respondingly awakened his consciousness, lie bruskly 
took his left elbow in his right hand, and turning to me 
said : "Well, what are you doing to me V^ 

From that moment I always took the precaution to 
turn his attention away from my doings, while sur- 
reptitiously presenting my hand to the various parts 
of his organism I wished to test. Whether I experi- 
mented with his leg, foot, hand, arm, elbow, etc., I 
always was able to observe the same phenomena: at- 
traction of the member. And whether the subject's 
eyes were blindfolded or not, whether he was in a 
trance or quite unaware of my maneuvers, I always ob- 
tained the same effects. (See chapter on the con- 
ductibility of the psychic force. ) 

I have indicated here the most significant experiences 
only, as it would take far too long to enumerate in- 
numerable and similar cases. 

Now the question arose: "How far can suggestion 
influence all these phenomena and supplant or prevent 
the action of animal magnetism ?'' As this was a prob- 
lem of the utmost importance, this is how I proposed 
to solve it: 

First experiment. The subject being awake, but 
blindfolded, I warn him that I am going to experiment 
the necessary time for the production of magnetic effect. 
In order that he shall be able to indicate to me exactly 
when he will feel its action, I tell him that I am going 
to act by attraction upon his right hand, and ask him to 
concentrate the whole of his attention upon it. 



88 OUR HIDDEIS^ FOECES 

After this preparatory suggestion, I say: '^IsTow I 
begiu!" Then I describe any kind of motion with my 
right hand, without, however, placing it before his own. 
After one minute or two, the subject, most attentive, 
exclaims: ^'How strange! I do not feel anything. 
Are things going wrong with me ?" Then, after a while, 
he says : ''Ah, no ! I feel something now ; but it seems 
to be in my left knee. It is not an attraction; it is a 
sort of pricking, tingling sensation." 

Exactly what I had done. I had held, in silence, my 
left hand opposite his left knee and a few inches from 
it. This result I obtained permanently, with just a 
few small differences, while the subject was in the wak- 
ing state, and blindfolded. It proves that, with this 
subject at least, and during this period of my experi- 
ences, suggestion in the wahing state is impotent to 
simulate magnetic action. 

Second experiment. This subject, having been 
plunged into the first state — ^that of suggestibility — is 
given the suggestion to fix his attention upon one of 
his hands, as he is going to be drawn by an irresistible 
force. As soon as I have said, ''I begin!" his hand 
rises in the air, although I am not acting in any way 
whatsoever upon it. Thus, in this state, suggestion is 
quite sufficient to simulate magnetic action. But, if at 
this moment I silently place my other hand opposite 
his other hand, then attraction results here, while simul- 
taneously the two effects are produced, identical in 



ANIMAL MAGl^ETISM 89 

appearance though really by two distinct causes — here 
by magnetism, there through suggestion. 

Third experiment. The subject, being in the state 
of suggestibility, is suggested that in order to produce 
certain effects exclusively upon one side of his body the 
other side must be rendered insensible ; and in fact this 
other side is now paralyzed and anesthetized. 

Here again, I obtain through the use of suggestion, 
without other actions, the phenomena of attraction in 
the members in which sensitiveness and motricity have 
remained intact. But if I place my right hand in the 
direction of his anesthetized and paralyzed foot, hand, 
leg, or knee, I observe, in spite of all the suggestions, 
the various movements of attraction. 

Therefore, not only can magnetic action produce its 
effects, independently of any "suggestion'' influence, 
but it also can, in certain cases, prevent and annul the 
effects of suggestion. 

Such is, unless I am mistaken, the conclusion to be 
inferred from this triple series of cross experiments. 



Ill 



In my frank opinion, magnetic radio-action or nerve 
radio-activity exists as palpably as the radio-activity of 
light and heat ; and I am fully convinced that, whoever 
will experiment, in observing the conditions which I 
did, if he be possessed with sufficient patience, will 
reach the same conclusion. 



90 OUE HIDDEE^ FORCES 

It is true, also, that it now remains for us to dis- 
cover the laws of this action, although we should not 
be too ready to generalize. 

From the experiments conducted with G. P., one 
might have been tempted to deduce that this force was 
polarized, as solar light, electricity, and magnetism are, 
inasmuch as we have seen that the right and the left 
hands produce effects of a different order. And yet, 
such a conclusion would have been erroneous, owing to 
the peculiarities of polarization and depolarization, 
which we still ignore. 

Indeed, eight months after having left for the coun- 
try, G. P. returned to Paris and consented to give me 
three more seances; and during these I noticed that 
he had remained sensitive to certain suggestions given 
him eight months previously. But on blindfolding him, 
I noted with surprise, and regret perhaps, that he had 
become less sensitive to my influence. It seemed that 
the senses he had developed under my magnetism had 
been blurred through eight months' inaction. The ef- 
fects were weaker, and took a longer time to produce. 

'New experiments are, therefore, necessary to de- 
termine the laws of magnetic influence; but this in- 
fluence, we repeat, is a positive fact, material and pre- 
cise, which any one can prove, experiment with, and 
observe at will ; meeting, as it does, all the requirements 
of science. 

If we were to suppose that electricity had not yet 
been discovered, we naturally should have to begin from 



AOTMAL MAGISTETISM 91 

the beginning. B j this is meant that we should have to 
begin to note that, in certain substances, friction de- 
velops the power to attract various light substances; 
that zinc and copper when in contact with water con- 
taining an acid solution generate a particular force, etc. 

Similarly, if the phenomena of telepathy, and other 
parapsychical phenomena shall one day be understood, 
they can only become so as the result of experimental 
verifications of the simplest and most direct action 
which living beings exert upon each other from and at 
a distance. 'No doubt there have been other men, long 
before this was written, who did observe the nature of 
these phenomena. M. de Jussieu's report before the 
"Commission du roi" is replete with observations upon 
the magnetic actions of Mesmer's tub in Paris. We also 
find the same effects related in the report presented by 
Dr. Husson before the Academic de Medecine (1838), 
in which is cited this example : 

"Baron du Potet, having blindfolded the somnambu- 
list, directs his fingers to within two feet of his body. At 
once, violent contractions of the hands and arms are 
manifested. Having now approached his feet to those 
of the subject, the latter abruptly withdraws his, al- 
though neither had been contacted by the other. The 
subject also complains of feeling, in the members to 
which the magnetic action had been directed, a pain as 
if due to ^burning heat.' The president of the examin- 
ing commission, M. Bourdois, obtains, on experiment- 



92 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

ing, the same effects, althougli with less promptness and 
in a weaker form." 

Dr. Pierre Janet, in his note, Quelques phenomenes 
de somnambulismej describes the phenomenon of mag- 
netic attraction as mere hyperesthesia of the sense of 
touch. It is true that the conditions in which he ob- 
served the phenomenon were different; therefore he 
does not seem as yet to attach much importance to its 
occurrence. This is what he says : "To provoke a gen- 
eral contraction it is sufficient for the magnetizer to 
hold his own hand at some distance from the body of 
the sensitive. At first are seen certain twitchings and 
sudden jerkings of the frame; then the whole body 
lifts itself up and follows the hand, as if really being 
drawn up by it." 

In 1887 Dr. Barety published a most wonderful 
treatise entitled Le magnetisme animal etvdie sous le 
nom de force neurique. This contains a lengthy series 
of experiments the purpose of which is to prove the 
thesis we endeavor to place before you here. It is in- 
deed the greatest scientific effort which has been made 
hitherto to establish the reality of animal magnetism. 

How does it happen, however, that the admirable 
work of Dr. Barety did not succeed in overcoming the 
indifference or the incredulity of the savants, as did, 
at least for a time, Charcot with hypnotism, Bernheim 
with suggestion ? The principal cause of failure re- 
sides in the prejudiced attitude which the great body 
of scientists nourish toward the question of animal 



ANIMAL MAG:N'ETISM 93 

magnetism. It also may be due to the manner in which 
the thesis was presented at the time. It would seem 
that in his work, Dr. Barety had not sufficiently elim- 
inated from his tests the possibility of suggestion-in- 
filtration. For every magnetic experiment in which 
one has not foreseen and excluded suggestion, not only 
in its most ordinary form but also under the form of 
auto-suggestion , loses immediately its value as an un- 
questionable proof. On the other hand, he also may 
have been too hasty in generalizing and transforming 
into laws certain facts which, being observed in some 
instances with one subject only, were applied to other 
subjects. 

It should not be forgotten that the time has not yet 
come for theorizing, systematizing, and explaining. A 
more imperative duty is imposed upon us all: ^Tirst 
observe, then prove." 

IV 

Should we, then, attribute the various effects de- 
scribed in the former chapters to the workings of mere 
chance — to a series of mere coincidences ? 

It is supposed that, owing to the effects of whatever 
cause, movements and sensations were produced in 
those regions of the subjects' organisms to which I had 
directed my fingers. But it cannot be supposed that 
coincidence alone can be responsible for such constancy 
and precision of effects. 

Are they due to simulation ? All subjects, it will be 



94 OUE HIDDEIST FOECES 

objected, are hysterical ; therefore, simulant. This also 
has been the objection leveled at hypnotism and sugges- 
tion. 

Let us examine the facts: Eirst of all, with the ex- 
ception of Jean M., who showed slight signs of hysteria, 
nothing authorizes us to consider the other subjects as 
hysterical. Consider certain children upon whom I 
experimented — Julio M., for instance, who fifteen min- 
utes prior to meeting me, knew nothing of such phe- 
nomena ; why and how should he have simulated ? And 
even supposing that it might have been the wish of G. 
P. and Jean M. to deceive me, how could this have been 
at all possible? Blindfolded and therefore oblivious 
to all outside things, is it easy to guess if it is the right 
or the left hand which is before you at a distance of 10 
centimeters and more? Or when it is directed to the 
left or to the right side, to the knee, the forehead, or the 
elbow ? 

Several times, also, I have experimented with per- 
sons deprived of all magnetic sensitiveness; and in 
spite of their greatest efforts, they never were capable 
of telling which hand was before them or what gestures 
I was describing in front of them. 

Should, then, hyperesthesia of sight and touch be 
invoked ? 

The subject, it will be objected, owing to the extreme 
sensitiveness which he develops through hypnosis, hears 
in the atmosphere the slightest motions you make, feels 
the heat emanating from your hands ! 



ANIMAL MAGiSTETISM 95 

But it must not be forgotten that, with the exception 
of a very small number of cases, I always experiment 
with subjects in the waking state. G. P. was awake 
in every instance. Julio M. had never been hypnotized 
apart from making a few passes down his arms, and 
applying the Moutin method of attraction. It would, 
therefore, be quite arbitrary to tax the subjects with 
hyperesthesis of the senses, which, had it existed, would 
have manifested itself through a multitude of other 
signs. As it is, their auditory or tactile sensibility, 
when tested, have always reacted as in a normal being. 
Even admitting that the sense of touch were in hyper- 
esthesis, one would naturally admit that this sense can- 
not perceive what is not produced by an external cause, 
however feeble it may be, to excite it. 

What, then, can be the reason for G. P., after 30 
seconds, to perceive the action of my right hand as the 
source of attraction, and my left hand as the source of 
the tingling sensations? Is it the heat radiated from 
the hand? 

It would indeed be a strange hyperesthesia which 
would enable the subject to perceive at a distance 
greater than 10 centimeters a temperature difference 
between the right and left hands, and to express this 
difference by two widely dissimilar things: attraction 
and tingling. And what can be answered to the fact 
that such influence can be perceived at the end of a 
metallic wire along which, for more than 2 yards, it 



96 OUR hidde:n" forces 

has been transmitted — and when the two hands are 
holding it together, with their temperature differences ? 

Suggestion, one might say as a last objection ; and 
one may remember that Professor Bernheim succeeded 
in convincing Dr. Liebault, his teacher, that the "im- 
position of the hands'' and "magnetized water" pos- 
sessed distinct curative properties when administered to 
suckling babes. They attributed this effect to the 
sole influence of suggestion.^ 

It also may be objected that I have unwittingly given 
my subjects to understand what would be required of 
them. But reading carefully the reports of my experi- 
ences, it will be seen that my sole aim always has been 
to experiment : without speech, without noise, and with- 
out the least signs or outward suggestions. It will be 
noticed that when we used suggestion in the experi- 
ments of control, it was not with a view to advise the 
subject of what we expected of him, but, on the con- 
trary, to divert his attention, to oppose suggestion to 
magnetism, as it were. In spite of all these precautions 
the magnetic effects were realized. We therefore have 
the right to say that suggestion was nowhere in the 
experiment. 

Pretending attraction of a subject without mag- 
netism, by the sole influence of suggestion, does not ex- 
clude the possibility of attracting him through mag- 
netism. The customary arguments of the partisans of 
suggestion are the best specimen of sophism, which the 

' Zoomagnetisme and Therapeutique suggestive, Jjiebault. 



AOTMAL MAGE"ETISM 97 

logicians called ignorantia elenchi: in other words, 
shifting the question. 

iJ^ext, comes the final objection: Might it not be the 
effect of auto-suggestion or of mental-suggestion ? 

To this we reply : Why should you want the subject 
to possess such imagination at the exact moment when 
we place our right or left hand before any portion of 
his organism ? No other reply can honestly be given 
than that these effects must be the outcome of some 
objective influence : in other words, of magnetism. Haz- 
ard, simulation, suggestion, etc., are completely out of 
the question. 

Yet, what about "mental suggestion" ? The hand 
really, you say, emits no radio-action; it is enough 
for you to "will" and to ^'believe" yourself capable of 
exerting such action upon the subject for your will and 
belief to penetrate his mind, and be realized in his 
organism. 

My reply to this is that, so far as I know, I have 
never been able to provoke this phenomenon except un- 
der the form of a simple "mental order" ; ^ but this I 
know, that if "mental suggestion" does exist, mental 
suggestion is a magnetic phenomenon. 

Do not let your mind be abused by the incompleteness 
of words. Mental suggestion, inadequately so named, 
has nothing in common with suggestion proper. This 
is why the School of ISTancy rejects the former concep- 
tion, and admits the latter. If I say to a person, "Get 
^See chapter on telepsychism. 



98 OUE HIDDEK FOECES 

up !" and he does so, in spite of his own will, it is not due 
to the fact that the individual's brain has heard and 
understood my oommand ; rather is it due to his inabil- 
ity to resist the order. If, without uttering a word, I 
desire that a person shall get up, and he immediately 
has the idea of so doing, whether he gets up or remains 
sitting, the particularity of this case, that which con- 
stitutes the "mental suggestion," resides in the fact that 
he heard the order. Whether he obeyed it or not, this 
would be of the resort of suggestion — that he heard the 
order, and understood it, without my having pronounced 
a single syllable or made a sign. Anything beyond 
this does not matter. The phenomenon exists. It is 
complete in this: that the transmission of the thought 
or the will has taken place from one brain to another 
brain. 

What is, then, the rapport between this thought trans- 
fer and ordinary suggestion, which consists entirely in 
the influence of an idea upon the entire organism, what- 
ever source this idea may have? The whole mystery 
resides in the influence that one brain exerts from a dis- 
tance upon another. And who cannot see in this influ- 
ence a particular case of magnetism in general? In- 
stead of supposing that this influence radiates from all 
the parts of a living body upon all the parts of another 
body, it is supposed that this influence radiates only 
from one brain to another. 

If, then, the phenomena already described can be 
explained through mental suggestion, they can be ex- 



ANIMAL MAGl^ETISM 99 

plained also through magnetism; for I do not imagine 
that any one will attribute to thought and will the mys- 
tical property of communicating themselves, from one 
brain to another, without some physical intermediary 
force where they have their material existence. 

But, is it true that the action of one man upon an- 
other be always and exclusively a cerebral one, the 
effect and sign of will and thought ? 

I cannot conceive how such hypothesis could explain 
the facts described above. When I first noticed that I 
could attract the elbow of G. P., neither he nor I 
thought of producing the phenomenon, but uncon- 
sciously, as my hand was turned, fingers outstretched, 
in the direction of his elbow, it took place. And when 
I held my left hand toward his elbow, the tingling sen- 
sation was obtained. When I presented my two hands 
simultaneously, I fully expected to see their effects be- 
come neutralized, instead of completing the effect, as 
they did. 

Only one conclusion would seem to remain possible. 
It is the same one which the great Cuvier formulated 
in his Legons d'Anatomie when writing upon experi- 
ments dealing with the action which nervous systems 
exert upon one another. ^'It is most difficult to distin- 
guish the effect upon the imagination of a person oper- 
ated upon, from the physical effects produced by the 
operator. Yet, the effects obtained upon patients who 
had lost consciousness before the operation began; the 
effects taking place upon others who lost consciousness 



100 OUE hidde:^[ eoeces 

after the operation; and the effects which certain ani- 
mals exhibit, leave not the slightest douht as to the real 
effects resulting from the proximity of two animated 
bodies, in certain positions and movements; and this 
independently from the influence due to the imagination 
of either. It will appear sufficiently demonstrated that 
these effects are due to some sort of communication 
which is talcing place between their nervous systems/* 

Laplace replies as follows to the detractors of mag- 
netism who refuse it a hearing: "It is most unphilo- 
sophical to deny the existence of magnetic phenomena 
because they are, as yet, unexplainable, in the actual 
state of our scientific knowledge." ^ 

There is not the shadow of a douht that, one day, it 
will he possible to discover the unity of nature in the 
three orders of psycho-physiological phenomena — hyp- 
notism, suggestion, magnetism — in the manner which 
tends to unify to-day the physical phenomena of heat, 
light and electricity. 

They are too closely allied not to be related to one 
another. But in the present state of our scientific 
knowledge it would appear futile to identify them. 
They are, perhaps, the effects of the same cause; but 
that which is certain is that they are produced under 
different conditions and according to different laws. 

When, however, it shall have been proved that ani- 
mal magnetism really exists, it will then become neces- 
sary to consider its possible intervention in the ensem- 
* Calcul des probahilites, Laplace. 



AOTMAL MAGNETISM 101 

ble of phenomena hitherto exclusively attributed to 
hypnotism and suggestion. Then, every precaution will 
need be taken to eliminate animal magnetism from 
experiments in suggestion, as we have eliminated sug- 
gestion from our own magnetism experiments. 

The School of ISTancy said, with reason, that the 
ancient mesmerists had unwittingly used suggestion. 
'Now the turn has come to say that ISTancy used mag- 
netism instead of suggestion.^ It is quite possible that 
the gaze, the contact, the passes, and the personality 
of the operator act, on certain subjects, in a purely 
suggestible manner. With others, it may equally be 
that magnetism is added to the suggestible influence, or 
is substituted for it. 

It is impossible to say, a priori, which is the part 
played by suggestion, and which played by magnetism. 
These forces are too susceptible to combine their ac- 
tions simultaneously. Experimentation alone can de- 
termine the respective parts played by magnetism and 
suggestion. 



We do not wish, however, to be believed because we 
affirm our own belief in magnetic force. We ask, on 
the contrary, that adequate pains be taken to verify its 
hypothesis, in the same way that one verifies every other 
scientific hypothesis : submitting it to experimental tests 
and control. 

^ Therapeutique suggestive, Liebault. 



102 OUR HIDDEIST FOECES 

Hypotheses, as we shall presently show, may be met 
in science under two forms. This, Claude Bernard 
was the first to distinguish. (1) A theoretical hypoth- 
esis. (2) An experimental hypothesis. 

The first, very general, aims at the explanation of a 
whole ensemble of phenomena and of laws which can- 
not in any other way be coordinated into a system. One 
may confirm but not verify an hypothesis, though one 
may introduce in this ensemble unity and cohesiveness. 

Hypotheses are found in science with their proper 
name and physiognomy, either among the principles, 
such as the atomical hypothesis, or among the conclu- 
sions, such as the hypothesis of the ether. This is how 
^Newton understood the role of the hypothesis when de- 
fining it thus : hypotheses non fingo. 

The second, particular and limited, and suggested by 
observation, aims at the immediate establishment of 
one or several experiments of which it rigidly deter- 
mines the conditions: it can and must be immediately 
controlled, as later on the hypothesis proper disappears, 
at least under this name. When once the hypothesis 
has been verified it passes under the name of law, when 
it becomes a truth; and, if the contrary prevail, it 
disappears, without leaving any trace. Only the his- 
tory of science may then keep it on record. Such is 
the part played by an hypothesis that it has been termed 
the great spring of the sciences of nature. 

Hitherto, animal magnetism has been only a theoreti- 



AOTMAL MAGJS^ETISM 103 

cal hypothesis. It must become an experimental hypoth- 
esis. 

To start from the facts, and go back to them — ^this is 
the secret of the experimental method. Thus one may, 
without fear, give a free course to one's imagination 
and to one's reasoning. Certain scientists wish to limit 
science to the sole observation of facts: they appear to 
be afraid of thinking freely. They forget that facts are 
of value only to those who know how to interpret 
them. 

One observer alone does not suffice to bring these re- 
searches to a victorious ending. The continuous co- 
operation of a large circle of physicians, physiologists, 
and philosophers is imperatively necessary.^ Will the 
savants of the world persevere in their obstinacy to 
ignore systematically the remarkable accomplishments 
of such ardent and sincere workers as Deleuze, Du 
Potet, Mesmer, Lafontaine, Puysegur, and scores of 
others ? Or do they fear for the dignity of science, to 
have one day the painful task of giving a belated ac- 
knowledgment to the men they once scoffed at, derided, 
and ostracized? 

Yet the truth underlying animal magnetism is an 
all-important one, for its consequences, theoretical and 
practical, can hardly be grasped. Honor, glory, and 
immortality await those who may at last give science 

® Following this conception, a decision was arrived at to estab- 
lish the ''Institut psyehologique g§n6raP' (now actually existing 
at 14 rue de Conde, Paris). 



104 OUR HIDDElSr FOECES 

the opportunity to study and recognize this great trutli, 
so supremely important to the mind of humanity. 



THE HYPOTHESIS 

In a general sense, every supposition, every conjec- 
ture more or less founded, is an hypothesis. In the 
langTiage of mathematicians an hypothesis is made to 
designate the first part of a theorem, that which the 
logicians call the subject or antecedent, in opposition 
to the second — attribute or consequence. For example : 
"If two straight lines are perpendicular to a third 
(hypothesis) they are parallel to each other (conse- 
quence)." 

But the word hypothesis belongs primarily to the 
vocabulary of natural sciences, where it indicates one 
of the most important methods of procedure, whereby 
the scientist imagines at first and supposes as already 
known the very truth which he seeks to obtain. 

There exist two hypotheses : the experimental and the 
theoretical. 

The first, suggested through observation, renders pos- 
sible the experiments which control it. Its great func- 
tion is the direction of researches. Claude Bernard in 
his Introduction a V etude de la Medecine experimentale, 
says: "Experimental initiative resides in the idea, as 
it is that which provokes the experiment. Beason and 
reasoning serve but in the deduction of the consequences 
of this idea and in their submission to experimentation. 



ANIMAL MAGNETISM 105 

An anticipated idea or an hypothesis is, therefore, the 
starting-point necessary in all experimental reasonings. 
Without it, it would not be possible to conduct investi- 
gations, for one would gather merely a heap of sterile 
observations. If one were to experiment without a pre- 
conceived idea, one would merely stray from the path." 

The experimental hypothesis must always be founded 
upon an observed fact. There is, however, no rule to 
be given to suggest a just and prolific idea which may 
act as a sort of intuitional anticipation of the mind 
toward successful research. 

The idea, once conceived, may then be submitted to 
definite precepts and to definite rules of logic. But 
its apparition and nature have been entirely sponta- 
neous and individual. It is a particular sentiment, a 
quid proprium which constitutes the personal original- 
ity, invention, or genius of each. 

Such is the importance of this process, which Claude 
Bernard does not hesitate to proclaim "the very kernel 
of scientific progress.'' The method by itself is not 
creative; for method can only develop the idea which 
has been submitted. 

The experimental hypothesis belongs to science while 
it is being formed, but it leaves science once it has been 
verified by experimentation, or else contradicted and 
therefore replaced by another hypothesis; and so on, 
until the final discovery of the law. It can be said that 
all actual laws have primarily been hypotheses. This 
sudden disappearance of the experimental hypothesis 



106 OUR HIDDEIST FOECES 

may be one of the reasons why the logicians ignored 
its existence. 

The second hypothesis, the theoretical, aims at the co- 
ordination and integration of the truths already ac- 
quired. It places itself at the conclusion of the series 
of operations of the method after experimentation and 
induction. Its function is then not that of directing 
research ; rather, that of explaining the results. 

When the mind, having once discovered a certain 
number of laws, feels the need to coordinate them, to 
bind them together, as it were, and thus complete in 
a measure experience and reason with imagination, it 
will then construct an hypothesis in which all these 
laws are explained. 

Such hypotheses are naturally quite general. They 
are, in physics, the hypothesis of ether as the vehicle 
of heat, light, and electricity; in chemistry, the atomi- 
cal hypothesis ; in astronomy, the hypothesis of Laplace ; 
in natural history, those of Lamarck, Darwin, etc., etc. 

One may, perhaps, have to distinguish between two 
kinds of theoretical hypotheses. Some are explana- 
tory: these pretend to give the real and (at least par- 
tially so) definite explanation of a certain ensemble 
of facts; for example, the hypothesis of etheric undu- 
lations in optics, and that of the natural transforma- 
tion of the species in natural history. The others are 
simply representative: they seem to permit the intro- 
duction of a temporary order, more or less artificial, 
though facilitated by the exposition, in an ensemble of 



ANIMAL MAG:^[ETISM 107 

facts, the cause of whicli is still ignored. Often these 
are but ancient explanatory hypotheses, recognized as 
insufficient, but retained because of their apparent 
handiness. Such are the hypothesis of optical emis- 
sion and that of the two electrical currents, etc. 

In all its forms, the hypothesis testifies to the in- 
sufficiency of pure empiricism and of the necessity for 
the part played by the mental faculties of regulation and 
of creation in the sciences of nature. 



CHAPTEE IV 
Our Own Subliminal Powers 

Two important drifts of thought fashion the intel- 
lectual life of the Twentieth Century professional phi- 
losophers and thinkers generally. 

First : Experimental psychology, or the science which 
treats of the relations hetween ^^mind and hody" or be- 
tween ^^soul and matter." It is called by some "Psycho- 
physiology." 

Second : Sociology, or the science which treats of the 
natural evolution of human society. 

To judge from the public-spirited activities of civil- 
ized nations before the international cataclysm of 1914, 
sociology, as a study, was more in general public favor 
than psychology. This . may be realized by recall- 
ing the innumerable quantities of international con- 
gresses which took place on both the new and the old 
continents, as well as the infinite number of chairs 
for sociology founded in every university the world 
over. 

It would, however, have been more logical, and surely 
safer, had the old philosophical precept of Descartes 
been followed — ^that of "directing one^s thought from 

108 



OUR OWIST SUBLIMI:N^AL powers 109 

the simple to the complex." By this is meant that the 
study of psychology^ the study of man as an individual 
unit, should necessarily precede that of sociology, or of 
men grouped in bodies forming the natural impact of 
human society. 

Hence there arose the need for a new psychology. 

Experimental or physiological, in what form does this 
new psychology differ from the old? What is its pur- 
pose ? What are its methods ? What is the spirit that 
animates it ? 

These are the questions which the following chapters 
will attempt to answer. 

Analyzing yourself, you will find that at first yon 
appear to your consciousness under a double aspect. If 
looking from the outside, it will be as a material mass 
or body, composed of the same elements as the other 
bodies and material surrounding objects, and subject to 
exactly the same physical laws and chemical reactions. 
But if you look from within, you become aware of a 
being who feels, thinks, and wills. A being which is 
as an invisible center, immaterial in form, spectator and 
judge of all that takes place around it, so far, at least, 
as it affects itself only. 

This dual aspect of the human being is expressed 
when one speaks of "the mind and the physical organs" 
or "the soul and the body." Again, the distinction is to 
be found in the two sciences which treat of man : Physi- 



/ 



110 OUE HIDDEN EOECES 

ology, tlie science of the body; psycliology, the science 
of the soul or of the mind.^ 

To maintain rigidly the barrier between these two sci- 
ences, to establish and defend the independence of psy- 
chology as distinct from physiology — this was, at the 
beginning of the Twentieth Century, the dominating 
purpose of psychologists in general. 

With what zest did the savants vie with one another 
in attempts to prove or disprove the relations between 
these two lives indubitably pulsating within us! A 
physical life and a mental life I Perhaps, also, this was 
a necessary reaction from exaggerated assertions of cer- 
tain physiologists who pretended to absorb the mental 
into the physical, thus riveting the existence of man to 
the sole functions of his bodily organs ! 

To-day no one would be bold enough to contest psy- 
chology's right of existence. But the point is to know 
whether psychology shall isolate itself from physiology ; 
or whether, by closer association and by following 'physi- 
ological methods and facts, psychology can more safely 
and precisely solve problems peculiarly its own. 

Thus it is that from the perfect state of enmity in 
which physiology and psychology lived, the new science 
of psycho-physiology was born. In this, the facts con- 
tained in the intellectual, moral, and psychical life of 
man are studied, not as abstract propositions, as for- 
merly, but as they are in reality, in their intimate con- 

^ See Memoire sur la distinction des faits psycJwlogiques et des 
faits physiologiques, by Jouffroy. 



OUE OW]^ SUBLIMIISrAL POWEKS 111 

nection with the bodily states over which they have 
dominion. 

In the transformation which, then, philosophy is un- 
dergoing, this form of human knowledge obeys the same 
irresistible current which takes in its whirl all the other 
sciences toward the apex of general progress through 
Evolution. This it is that enables them to combine in 
a closer and more effective — if not naore efficient — co- 
partnership. And it is why the psychologists of to-day 
become physiologists, and physiologists become psycholo- 
gists. Philosophers, scientists, general medical practi- 
tioners, all fraternize as common workers in the great 
collective ideal, which is the Unity of Human Knowl- 
edge. 

And, again, I should like to say that in so uniting 
itself to physiology, psychology merely renews its inter- 
rupted traditions — ^traditions which sprang from two 
immortal master-minds of ancient and modern philoso- 
phy: Aristotle and Descartes. The tradition of Aris- 
totle, who defined the Soul as "of fonn essential to the 
human frame," and who gave to the world the first 
samples of experimental psychology in his opuscules 
on Sensation, Sleep and Memory. The tradition of 
Descartes, who, in his treatise on Passions, associates, 
in all his analyses, the description of bodily movements 
with the sentiments expressed by the human heart : love, 
hate, desire, happiness, sorrow, etc. 

Having explained the object of the new psychology, 
let us now analyze its character and methods. 



112 OUE HIDDEI^ FOKCES 

Its general character is that expressed in its name — 
psycho-pliysiology. Earlier psychology, such as that of 
Jouffroy, Garnier, and Damiron, was essentially sub- 
jective in function. It was, as it were, closed up in the 
internal recesses of that soul which it tried to study 
mainly, if not wholly, by means of "conscious reflec- 
tion/' 

Psycho-physiology, on the other hand, is "essentially 
objective. It takes as its basis the scientific knowledge 
of the human body, its organs, its functions, its tissues 
and their elementary properties, its functional disorders 
and diseases. It embodies the study of anatomy, physi- 
ology, histology, pathology. It studies the whole human 
organism, or that part of the organism in which the 
spontaneous communication between the physical and 
the mental takes place: that is, the direct relationship 
between the nervous system and the brain. 

This is why this new psychology exacts the closest 
of collaboration between the physiologist and the 
psychologist, the philosopher and the medical man. For 
as each discovery is made in any of these fields of sci- 
ence, it has its correspondence in the other. This is 
evidenced by the recent discovery of the neurons by the 
Italian, Golgi, the Spaniard, Ramon y Cajal, and the 
Frenchman, Mathias Duval. If indeed their discov- 
eries, verified by ulterior experiments, prove exact, these 
will undoubtedly revolutionize all the theories held 
hitherto pertaining to the functions of the brain and 
the nervous system in relation to the actions of thought. 



OUK OWN SUBLIMIISrAL POWERS 113 

Psycho-plijsics, which is another branch of this new 
psychology, goes farther in this direction; for its aim 
is the study of psychical facts, sensations, and phe- 
nonaena, in their relation to the physical agents such 
as sound, light, heat, etc., by which they are provoked 
and to which scientists endeavor to apply measurement 
and calculus. Fechner, in 1860, was the first to apply 
psycho-physical methods, instanced by his Elements de 
psycho-physique. Since then this has not ceased to be 
applied and developed, even to the extent of constitut- 
ing, by itself, the whole science of modem psychology, 
of ivhich, of course, it is hut a part. 

The other aspect of the character of this new psychol- 
ogy is expressed by its second form : experimental. 

The old classical psychology relied mainly on obser- 
vation. From the field of conscious observation, it noted 
all the most futile and fugitive happenings of the in- 
ternal existence, *'Self.'' It attempted to sound what 
took place in the soul of other men, noting their speech 
and actions, even the changes in their attitudes and 
facial expressions. Internal and external actions of 
the consciousness — this formed the procedure of obser- 
vation. 

The new psychology, however, is not content to ob- 
serve only; it experiments. When observations are 
made, they are taken from the subjective examination 
of consciousness to the objective control of the senses. 
These in turn are rendered more precise, safe from 
error, by the use of instruments, apparatus which regis- 



114 OUE HIDDEN FOKCES 

ter and measure them. The result of this has been a 
wider area of experimentation and investigation. 

'Not only are the phenomena of normal life studied, 
but also rigorous analyses are made of all abnormal, 
pathological, and exceptional cases, in which tld& 
psychical mechanism is mutilated, or out of gear. Such 
cases as blind-born, dumb-bom, criminal-born, to use 
the current expression of Lombroso, hysterical, patho- 
logical, and the various forms of mental disorders, all 
come under the sphere of experimental activity. 

Again, the modern psychologist does not work as the 
old-day philosopher, whose only instruments consisted 
in his books, and whose sole laboratory was a cosy, 
though often dusty and worm-eaten, studio! Psycho- 
logical experimentation is to-day conducted in hospitals, 
asylums, and prisons. (At the time of translating it 
is even carried on to the very first lines of trenches, on 
the battlefields of Europe.^) The number of labora- 
tories finely equipped with all kinds of devices, special 
instruments for experimentation, etc., increases every 
day. It was the famous German philosopher, Wundt, 
who created the first laboratory of its kind in Leipzig, 
and since then similar institutions have spread all over 
the globe. ISTot only did every university town of Ger- 
many establish its own psychological laboratory, but 
also every important center, intellectual or otherwise, 
in Europe and America adopted the system. 

The country, however, where the creation of these 

'^ January, 1917.— W. de K. 



OUR OW:^ SUBLIMIN^AL POWERS 115 

psychological establishments surpasses all others is, 
without question, the great sister republic of France. 

From 1881 to 1894, the United States founded not 
less than twenty-eight. Since then their number has 
grown so fast that there is not one important town, 
college, or school, that does not possess its own psycho- 
logical laboratory, or at least its own trained psycholo- 
gist. And their number continues to grow. 

It is interesting to watch the early evolution of this 
movement. 

The first American laboratory was founded at the 
Johns Hopkins University in 1881 by Professor Stan- ^ 
ley Hall, himself a pupil of Wundt. It struggled for 
seven years all alone, until in 1888 other emulators 
founded 3 more laboratories. From that period, great 
fecundity followed, with the founding of 3 in 1889, 4 
in 1890, 2 in 1891, 5 in 1892, 4 in 1893, and 6 in 1894. 

France in this matter is also forging ahead rapidly, 
though not at the same rate, nor in the same way in the 
matter of modern establishments. The ancient labora- 
tories of the Salpetriere, of the Charite, of the Asile 
Sainte-Anne, in Paris, still stand as glorious monuments 
to early experimental psychology. For have not such 
men as Charcot, Luys, Dumontpallier, Magnan, sur- 
rounded by their numerous and brilliant pupils, ac- 
tively contributed to the progress of physiology and 
pathology of the nervous system, of the brain, and 
thereby to the progress of experimental psychology of 
to-day ? Has not the School of IN^ancy, under the genial 



116 OUE HIDDEIST FOECES 

direction of Liebault, Liegeois and Bemheim, elucidated 
the problematic questions of hypnotic and suggestion 
phenomena ? These will surely be remembered, by fu- 
ture generations, as the forefront pioneers of modern 
experimental psychology. 

As to the spirit which animates this experimental 
psychology, it is safe to say that psycho-physiologists in 
general are quite indifferent to metaphysical specula- 
tion. They are entirely disinterested, or at least so they 
pretend, in the eternal and unfathomable mysteries over 
which have labored the greatest mental giants humanity 
ever produced: Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Leibnitz, 
Kant, Hegel. What is the nature of soul? What is 
its origin? What its destiny? Questions indefinitely 
unanswered, which the science of ^'correlation between 
mind and matter'' ignores, and still less attempts to 
solve. 

Psycho-physiology, therefore, cannot be either ma- 
terialistic or spiritualistic, no more than can physics 
or chemistry. It will not attempt to go against any 
system of thought. The attitude of psycho-physiology 
as a science and of psycho-physiologists as scientists, is 
neutral. Of course, it is quite evident that to study, 
measure and record the most rudimentary phenomena 
of psychological life, such as sensations, instinctive 
movements, memory, touch, hearing, etc., it is not neces- 
sary to debate on the question of free will nor over the 
existence of God. 

As one soars higher into the realms of moral, mental. 



OUR ow]sr sublimi:ntal powers iir 

and intellectual being, and as one tries to submit to 
experimental methods, tbe nobler forms and more deli- 
cate mechanisms of sentiment, thought and will, it is 
evident that the new psychology reflects the metaphysical 
influences of the old. 

The interest in metaphysical problems cannot die out 
in the heart of humanity. We conceive them and ap- 
proach them in a manner different from that of our 
predecessors. We often hope to solve them by other 
methods, unless, in our ovni infatuation, we already 
believe ourselves in the possession of the keys. But 
these problems prevail, nevertheless. 

Was it not a celebrated physiologist who once said: 
^^I may well exert myself all I can to find the soul under 
the microscope and under my scalpel ; but, alas, I have 
never found it." 

This phrase, which might well serve as a model of 
argumentation, illustrates eloquently the position of the 
so-called positivist school of thought and of the mys- 
tical; the real differences between these two being con- 
tained in their respective attitudes and methods em- 
ployed. The positivists say: "All phenomena which 
are not observable, not measurable or experimentable, 
are phenomena which cannot be known scientifically. 
They elude science; therefore, they do not exist. All 
phenomena become known scientifically when they ap- 
pear under the triple aspect : 

''First: If objective, in space. They come under 



118 OUE HIDDEE- FOKCES 

the observation and examination of any one of our five 
senses. 

''Second: Under analysis. They are of such nature 
that they can be reduced to elements of number, figure, 
mass, or velocity; therefore, they are capable of being 
calculated and measured. 

"Third: They are of such a nature that, knowing 
the conditions upon which they depend, they can be pro- 
duced or arrested at will, as often as desired, and are 
phenomena which can be experimented upon." 

It will be observed that the character of all these 
phenomena resolves itself into one thing — ^materialism. 
The phenomena susceptible to being scientifically known 
are the material ones — and those only ! 

The savant in positivism thus systematically ignores 
all immaterial phenomena; his position being similar 
to that of a certain species of animal whose optic nerves 
have become atrophied for want of light. 

But what about the mystic ? His tendency is to be- 
lieve, after the manner of Hamlet, that ^^there are many 
things 'twixt earth and heaven, undreamt of in our 
philosophies." 

"IsTo," says he; ^'it caunot be true that everything 
can be known scientifically. There are yet in nature 
many unknown forces which can never be harnessed, 
as have been those which we already know. Is there not 
in man, even, one of those forces — ^the soul — which in 
part falls under the study of positivism, but which, nev- 
ertheless, is immaterial f Who has, after all, handled 



OUE OWN^ SUBLIMII^AL POWEES 119 

with his own fingers the thoughts and the sentiments? 
If we express in ciphers, if we measure the movements 
which thoughts and sentiments impart to our organs, do 
not these phenomena elude, in themselves, all attempts 
at measurement and calculation? Therefore, no one 
can hoast of knowing all ahout the soul. It is through 
observation only, through the impartial notation of all 
facts, scientific or not, that we may succeed in perceiv- 
ing a few of the mysterious faculties hidden beyond its 
veil." 

Such an attitude of thought may appear entirely op- 
posed to the positive mind, as being too unscientific. 
But may we not look, in this very attitude, for the natu- 
ral counter-balance which helps to serve the higher in- 
terests of science as a whole ? 

Do not abuse the mystics, for are they not keeping 
open the very gates which the positivists attempt to 
close ? And who knows that it is not behind these very 
gates that are hidden the most resplendent discoveries 
called to dazzle future centuries of generations ? 

At the time when electricity was hardly suspected 
as a force, was not the savant who dared to predict its 
future wonderful possibilities treated as a dreamer? 
Perhaps physiology, such as we know it to-day, may 
even be in the same position as the science of physics 
was prior to the period in the history of science when 
no one suspected the wonderful part played by elec- 
tricity in nature. 

Let us, then, tolerate, side by side with a scientific 






120 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

and positive psycho-physiology, a mystical and occult 
psycho-physiology. Both, sooner or later, are called to 
meet each other, no matter what may he their tendencies, 
at the same point which can be nothing else but that 
of Truth. 

There are many who already practise this tolerance. 
The study of the strange and puzzling phenomena of 
animal magnetism, for a long time denied by science, 
which relegated them to the domain of empirism and 
charlatanism, is now reappearing under the newer ap- 
pellation of hypnotism and suggestion. And the study 
of these two fields of research induced the physiologists 
and the psychologists gradually to investigate the neigh- 
boring, though still obscure, phenomenal regions of 
mental suggestion and telepathy. 

Every one knows in France the name of Colonel Al- 
bert de Rochas because of his peculiarly fascinating 
experiments on the exteriorization of sensitiveness. 
Every one knows, also, the indefatigable labors of Dr. 
Charles Richet, Professor of Physiology at the School 
of Medicine, Paris; of Dr. Dariex, under whom ^'The 
Annals of Psychical Sciences" (Les Annates des Sci- 
ences Psychiques) are published. England, also, pos- 
sesses its Society for Psychical Research, at the head of 
which are the eminent names of Sir William Crookes, 
Sir Oliver Lodge, Henri Bergson, and many others. 

America possesses, as well, a very prosperous Society 
for Psychical Research, whose works shall forever be 
linked with the undying names of William James, 



OUE OWjST SUBLIMI:NTAL POWEKS 121 

Hyslop, Royce, etc. And legion are the periodical pub- 
lications devoted to that special branch of psychology 
which, for the want of a better name, I shall call 'para- 
psychology. 

It is the special field of this as yet unknown psychol- 
ogy, this Psychology of the Future, which we shall at- 
tempt to define. 



CHAPTER V 

Psychology of the Future 
paeapsychical phenomen^a 

On the confines of science, as it were, exist a group 
of phenomena which still elude all scientific explana- 
tion. They appear to be foreign to what we know of 
the laws of nature. Their reality, up to the present 
time, has been contested or not generally admitted, 
although in the remotest antiquity such phenomena had 
positively aroused the curiosity of mankind and awak- 
ened admiration mingled with terror and superstition. 

Science, however, is just beginning to explore this 
region of the supernatural, in an attempt to discover 
the laws which would enable it to explain those mys- 
terious phenomena and produce them at will. 

We shall here endeavor to classify them, and to give 
them appropriate names, so as to distinguish them from 
all others, that their study may be facilitated ; for there 
does not seem to exist a common name for the whole 
family of facts known as hypnotism, animal magnetism, 
spiritism, telepathy, levitation, etc. 

These phenomena are often called "occult." But this 
denomination means nothing except to those who admit 

122 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUEE 123 

of the existence of the ^ ^occult sciences" in contra-dis- 
tinction to the ^^positive sciences" — ^which, it is neces- 
sary to say, are the only possible ones in our opinion. 

Often, also, these phenomena are called ^^psychic phe- 
nomena," forming a particular group named "psychic 
sciences," as instanced by the titles of the English, Amer- 
ican, French, and other societies and journals devoted to 
the study of psychic phenomena. Although it seems to 
be spreading more widely every year in English-speak- 
ing countries, this appellation does not seem to us at all 
satisfactory, inasmuch as the term "psychic" is also be- 
ing used elsewhere — perhaps more adequately — as 
synonymous with "mental." Joy, sorrow, pain, remem- 
brance, reasoning, an act of will, are, properly speaking, 
so many psychical states; and there does not seem to 
be in the word anything which would tend to restrain 
its use or its application to extraordinary or abnormal 
phenomena. 

For this reason we propose the term ''parapsycJiical/' 
in which the prefix para justly indicates the nature — 
paradoxical, exceptional, aberrant — of phenomena of 
thought and life outside the laws known to us. 

True, it could be objected that this can be but a tem- 
porary appellation ; for when the day has come for man- 
kind to know all the laws that govern thought and life, 
the parapsychical phenomena will then form a natural 
part of our every-day life. 

To-day, however, we can safely define these para- 
psychical phenomena as all phenomena which, produced 



124 OUR HIDDEN EORCES 

in animated beings, or as an effect of their action, do 
not seem to come under the explanation afforded by 
nature's laws and forces already known. 

Let us divide them in two principal orders : 

First: All phenomena appearing to be explained by 
certain forces already known, and supposing that these 
forces, given certain circumstances, act according to cer- 
tain laws more or less different from those we already 
know, such as hypnotism and suggestion. 

Second: All other phenomena which seem to imply 
the intervention of forces as yet unknown, of certain 
factors quite distinct from all those already discovered 
or examined by science. These include telepathy, ani- 
mal magnetism, spiritism, etc. 

Every ^^scientist," to-day, admits the phenomena of 
the first order. Most of them reject those of the sec- 
ond order, or else they attempt to explain them by the 
former. It may be, therefore, permissible to call the 
first scientific and the second extra-scientific. 

The first order itself is classified in two groups of 
phenomena, more or less distinct, and for which we must 
coin new names: The psychopathic phenomena (from 
two Greek words, psyche, soul, and pathos, modifica- 
tion) ; and the cryptopsychical phenomena (from the 
Greek cryptos, hidden, and psyche, soul). 

PSYCHOPATHIC PHENOME]S"A 

All phenomena proceeding from modifications of cer- 
tain states of the mind or of the nervous system — as. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUEE 125 

for instance, mental exaltation, abnormal inhibition of 
certain psychological faculties or vital functions, hyp- 
notic and suggestion phenomena — can be classified un- 
der this definition. 

These phenomena may be produced in two different 
ways: 

First: They may proceed from certain modifications 
of the mental state of the subject, often determined by 
the spoken words of the operator, constituting "verbal 
suggestion." The suggestion, in some instances, need 
not be verbal. It may be produced by a gesture, a look ; 
it may even taken spontaneous birth in the mind of 
the patient, when it becomes auto-suggestion. In all 
cases, the cause is a mental one, an idea insinuated or 
imposed on the mind, which is responsible for all subse- 
quent phenomena. 

Suggestive psychopathic cases being, in appearance, 
the simplest, should naturally be studied first of all, as 
they form the greater part of the cases and therefore 
would explain them in their entirety. 

Second: Their cause may be purely physiological, 
consisting in a modification of the nerve centers, pro- 
duced by gazing for a length of time at a brilliant ob- 
ject, by a pressure exerted on any determined part of 
the body, or by any other device of a physical nature. 

They constitute the hypnotic phenomena studied by 
Braid and the School of the Salpetriere, which consid- 
ered them as morbid states of the nervous system called 



126 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

hysteria. According to their theory, these phenomena 
revealed three characteristic forms : lethargy, catalepsy, 
and somnambulism. Instead of being effects of sugges- 
tion, these states were their causes, in the sense that 
every hypnotic subject was suggestible, presenting phe- 
nomenal aspects entirely independent of his own sug- 
gestibility. Eor instance: the neuro-muscular hyper- 
excitability in the lethargic state, the transfer of con- 
tractions by the action of the magnet in catalepsy or 
somnambulism. 

The School of l^ancy differed from Braid and the 
School of the Salpetriere, inasmuch as its Professor 
Bernheim would not admit of any other phenomena but 
those of suggestion. He said : ^There is no such thing 
as hypnotism; everything is suggestion. Eor instance, 
without touching or looking at a patient, I give the sug- 
gestion : ^ You have forgotten your name, your address, 
your profession' — and the patient cannot remember any 
of them. Or I say ; ^ You are going to sleep, to sleep — 
and the patient goes off to sleep.' Or : ^In five minutes 
you won't be able to remain standing' — and the patient 
falls on her knees. Or: ^You are irresistibly drawn 
to this chair, and you can't help falling into it' — and the 
patient does so." 

In the actual state of science it would be difficult to 
say who is, or is not, right — the believers in suggestive 
psychopathy or those in hypnotic psychopathy (better 
called, to my mind, hystero-hypnotic) . 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUEE 127 

CEYPTOPSYCHISM 

Under this heading should come all those phenomena 
where an intelligent action, a psychical action, takes 
place, seemingly without the presence of consciousness 
to any degree. 

Although more or less in close relation to psychopa- 
thy, cryptopsychism can be found to exist independently 
of the former. 

Prophetism of the Camisards is an historical exam- 
ple of spontaneous cryptopsychism. But the best ex- 
ample of this class of phenomena may be found in auto- 
matic writing. For instance : You hold a pen in your 
right hand, and unconsciously the hand will write a 
sequence of phrases which frequently correspond, in 
answer, exactly to the proffered questions. Pierr6 Janet, 
in his book, Mental Automatism, has begun the study 
of this problem, which he defines under the name of 
the transfer of the personality.^ Some aspects of spir- 
itualism, too, come under the category of crypto- 
psychical phenomena. 

The phenomena of this order, which are still await- 
ing the attention of scientists and, it may be remem- 
bered, imply the action of certain forces, still unknown, 
should be classified under three groups : 

1. Psychodynamic phenomena (from psyche, soul; 
dynamis, power). 

* Dedoublement de la personalite. 



128 OUR HIDDEIST FOECES 

2. TelepsycTiic phenomena (from tele, distant; 

psyche, soul). 

3. Hyloscopic phenomena (from hyle, matter; 

scopein, examine). 

Psychodynamism 

In this are included the mass of the phenomena 
which an animated being produces over other animated 
beings, or upon matter, by the intermediary of a force 
sui generis — a force distinct from all other known 
forces, though in nature analogous to light, heat, elec- 
tricity, magnetism. When the action of this force man- 
ifests at great distances, without the help of intermedi- 
ary factors, these phenomena become then telepsychical. 
The difference, therefore, is but one of degree between 
the psychodynamic and the telepsychic phenomena, al- 
though the former are found in greater variety. 

We are not. including in this nomenclature the phe- 
nomena whose action is supposedly exerted or is gen- 
erated, not from an animated being — animal or man 
subjected to our examination — but from some spirit in- 
telligence, belonging to another world. Such phenomena 
constitute what we may call spiritic psychodynamy. 
(We included in our earlier division a spirito-crypto- 
psychism.) 

But before we enter upon the field of this hypothesis 
we should certainly endeavor to explain these facts, 
through analyzing the unconscious actions of the sub- 
jects or mediums who produce them. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTURE 129 

Whether we admit them or not, the actions exerted 
by living organisms (animated beings) assume two prin- 
cipal forms, according to their effect on other living 
organisms or upon matter: The first action is called 
vital psychodynamism or psycJiohynesia; and the sec- 
ond, material psychodynamism or psych olcynesia. Al- 
most all phenomena attributed to the action of animal 
magnetism, in so far as they remain distinct from the 
phenomena produced by suggestion and hypnotism, be- 
long to this classification. 

We will give here a rapid enumeration of them. 

Vital Psychodynamism, or Vital Psychokynesia. 
(A) Its effects on man. The simplest experiment is that 
which consists in placing the two hands, lightly, without 
pressure, on the shoulder-blades of a man or woman. 
Draw the hands slowly away, toward yourself, when 
you will find that it will be impossible for the subject 
to resist the attraction; he falls backward, often with 
much violence. Some people, being naturally more 
sensitive, respond to this attraction from the very first 
experiment, even when the hands do not touch the body, 
and are held two or three inches apart. It must be 
understood, of course, that the subject is not told what 
is being expected of him. 

When the hands are being placed on the shoulders, 
and a slight exertion of the will is being made to draw 
the patient backward, it will have the effect of doing 
so very promptly, especially if the subject has already 
proved sensitive to the attraction. 



130 OFE HIDDEN FOECES 

The same result can be obtained, although not so 
easily, when holding the hands over the epigastrium. It 
can be produced, also, when holding one hand at the 
base of the spinal column, and the other, or the fingers, 
on the subject's knee. 

In the ease of some very sensitive patients, it will be 
found that placing the hand open, with slight or no 
contact, behind the elbow will produce a series of jerky 
movements of the arm and also attraction. And this 
can be obtained without the knowledge of the patient. 

The contact or the nearness of the hands of the ex- 
perimenter will cause in the patient phenomena of con- 
traction, adhesion, stiffness — all these being the effects 
of the same, as yet undetermined, force. It is the same 
force which the magnetizers (magnetic healers) at- 
tribute to the effects of the passeSj which they perform 
to awaken or to send their patients into the comatic 
state. And in the same manner that electricity and 
magnetism are polarized — ^that is, are, at the same time, 
both positive and negative^ — so is this force-emanation 
of the human body. 

Vital psychodynamism, besides producing external ef- 
fects, has the action of producing a series of effects in- 
ternally, in the body, and constitutes what is known as 
curative magnetism,^ Thus, making certain passes over 
a diseased organ, or applying the hands over its region, 
would have the effect of reinstating its lost or deficient 
vitality. The necessary equilibrium would appear to 
* Le magnetisme curatif, A. Bue. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTURE 131 

have been given the vital energies or vital forces, the 
necessary power to resist the causes of disease, and also 
death. ^ 

Dr. Liebault, of the School of ISTancy, the apostle of 
suggestion, after numerous experiments with young 
children, came to the conclusion that a human being 
could, solely by its presence, exert a healthful or an 
unhealthful action over another, independently of any 
suggestion. 

It should be recognized that suggestive psychopathy 
implies a kind of internal psychodynamism ; for how 
could the idea of cure produce its effect unless the brain, 
under the gripping influence of the idea, sent currents 
of energy to restore and regularize the functions of the 
affected organs ? 

(B) Effects produced on animals. These effects are 
very similar in nature to those produced on human be- 
ings, although experiments conducted in this direction 
have not been as extensive as with human organisms. 
It would be most desirable to increase these; for the 
effect of suggestion is naturally much lees, and thus the 
experiments would be more valuable. 

(C) Effects on plants. Certain plants, having been 
treated by means of passes, have shown a distinct in- 
crease of growth. Other plants, in a perishing state, 
have revived; and fruits treated in this way have 
ripened one month earlier than others not submitted 
to the same influence.^ 

*Le magnetisme curatif, A. Bue. 



132 OUR HIDDETsT FORCES 

Material or Physical Psychodynamism or 
PsYCHOKYNESiA. We find two manifestations of this 
force : 

Indirect psychodynamism. This consists in the ac- 
tion on material objects. It does not manifest itself 
by a perceptible change in the constitution or the proper- 
ties of the object; rather on the effect that this object 
produces on human beings, and particularly so on sensi- 
tives. For instance, water is found to possess curative 
properties when submitted to the process of passes. 

We have also seen a subject who felt as if he were 
being scalded every time he touched certain objects 
which, unknown to him, were magnetized. 

Direct psychodynamism. In this case the effects pro- 
duced on physical matter are visible to all. They con- 
sist in movements imparted to the substance of matter. 
Some of the so-called ''mediumistic phenomena'' come 
directly under this heading. It may even be asked 
whether the movements of the tilting tables are not 
caused by the unconscious movements of the sitters? 
But when a table is levitated — lifted in the air^ — without 
apparent contact, one must admit that the intervention 
of mechanical forces is not sufficient to explain these 
phenomena. One must admit some psychodynamic ac- 
tion. 

If Sir William Crookes had taken all the necessary 
precautions for scientific control, his experiences with 
the medium, D. D. Home, would be classified imder this 
head. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUEE 133 

To tlie phenomena of levitation should be added those 
of materialization, which seem to be produced by a con- 
densation of the parapsychical force, through which 
tangible and visible objects, in all aspects similar to liv- 
ing bodies, can be created.* 

Telepsychical Phenomena 

Under this classification come a group of phenomena 
implying an action exerted and felt at a great distance, 
or at distances between which certain obstacles have 
been interposed. 

1. Telepathy. These facts have been thoroughly 
studied in England and in France and can be found 
analyzed in detail in Podmore's Phantasms of the Liv- 
ing, in the Annates des Sciences psychiques, etc. They 
consist in the sudden mental appearance of the image 
of a parent or friend, more often at the moment when 
the latter is in danger of death. 

2. Second Sight, Lucidity, Clairvoyance. These phe- 
nomena, although denied their existence by official sci- 
ence, exist nevertheless. According to the numerous 
testimonies, which so often have been verified on sub- 
jects in the somnambulistic state, the subject can see 
things — objects and scenes, internal organs of the body, 
distant towns or countries — that the eye cannot reach. 

3. Transmissions of Sensations, and often simulta- 
neously of bodily states. The following example, taken 

*For this see William Crookes' almost incredible story of Katie 
King. 



134 OUR HIDDEN TOECES 

from Pierre Janet, illustrates what is meant : "Madame 
B. seems to feel most of the impressions received by the 
person who has sent her off to sleep. She believes that 
she is drinking when I drink; she always recognizes 
the substance I place in my mouth, and can tell accu- 
rately if I put salt or sugar on my tongue. '* 

To this category of facts belong the phenomena, still 
controverted, obtained by Colonel de Rochas, and called 
by him "exteriorization of the sensitiveness." 

4. Transmission of Thought. This is actually the 
phenomena of Mental Suggestion, The subject divines, 
reads, understands thoughts as yet not verbally ex- 
pressed. He replies, for instance, to mental questions. 
The Marquis de Puysegur wrote of his subject, Victor 
Vielet: "I have no need to speak. I think before he 
does, and he hears me and gives me his answers.'' 

5. Transmission of the Will. The subject obeys the 
will, as yet not expressed in words, of the experimenter. 
Whether done consciously or unconsciously, it would 
appear that thought-transmission has taken place. 

Among these phenomena should be included that of 
sleep produced from a distance, as in the famous ex- 
periments of Messrs. Gilbert and Janet at Havre, when 
they succeeded sixteen times in inducing sleep in their 
subject from distances varying from 6 meters to 2 kilo- 
meters. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUKE 135 

Hyloscopic Phenomena 

This, the last group in our classification, comprises 
all of the phenomena where physical matter appears to 
exert an influence on human heings, in particular, and 
on animated beings in general — an influence or action 
difficult to explain by its known chemical or physical 
properties, and which, therefore, would seem to reveal 
a force unlike all those which science already has stud- 
ied. 

As may be seen, the hyloscopical phenomena present 
inverse and complementary aspects to the phenomena 
included under Material Psychodynamism, 

The following are their subdivisions: 

1. Influence of Movement. It is quite sufficient to 
go round a subject, from left to right, without telling 
him the object for so doing, for him to lose the sensi- 
bility of touch and the memory. If you keep on going 
round, your subject will pass gradually and succes- 
sively through the lethargic, cataleptic, somnambulis- 
tic states, etc.^ When reversing the process — that 
is, going around him from right to left — ^he comes back 
successively through all the former states until quite 
normal. The same results are obtained by the rotation 
of the subject on his own axis (on himself) or round a 
fixed point ; or by the rotation of a material object round 
him. 

' May we not recognize in this the peculiar practice of the North 
American Indians in early wars, though on a larger scale? — 
W. de K. 



136 OUR HIDDEN^ FORCES 

2. Influence of AtmospTieric Currents. Certain peo- 
ple of nervous temperament often feel the coming 
changes in the weather long before this happens. They 
are, so to speak, "living barometers" of extreme sensi- 
bility. 

3. Influence of Subterranean Currents. The numer- 
ous "divining-rod" tests conducted during the Interna- 
tional Congress of Experimental Psychology in Paris, 
1913, and which arrested the attention of the scientific 
world, come under this division. 

4. Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism. Up to the 
present, this is still very obscure. Certain sensitive 
subjects seem to present this influence. It may be that 
which constitutes the sense of direction, that instinct 
of orientation which naturalists attribute to certain 
species of animals. 

5. Influence of the Magnet. Charcot's school of hyp- 
notism, Luys, as well as the ancient school of the mes- 
merists, admits this influence, although the school of 
suggestion denies it. A magnet will produce on the sub- 
ject not only sensations of coolness and ankylosis, but 
also the objective phenomena such as sleep, contracture, 
transfer of movements and attitudes, etc. This influ- 
ence can be applied therapeutically. One might even 
discover effects of a similar nature produced by elec- 
tricity, heat, light, sound, certain crystals, etc. 

6. Influence of Metals. This has been studied by Dr. 
Burq under the name of metalloscopy and metallo- 
therapy. His experiences and observations may be read 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE EUTUEE 137 

in two lectures delivered by Dr. Dumontpallier, in 1879, 
at the Hopital de la Pitie, Paris. 

7. Influence of Divers Substances, Under this classi- 
fication are included: (1) The action attributed, in 
homeopathic medicine, to its infinitesimally small cor- 
puscles. The power of this action seems to be in 
the inverse ratio of their mass ; and, if real, it implies 
the existence of a force different from all other forces 
known by science. (2) The action of drugs at a dis- 
tance, studied by Bourru and Buret, from whose ex- 
periments arose such wide discussion. (3) The action 
of organic extracts, very similar in effect to the above, 
attributed to Brown- Sequard. 

Although we do not pretend to have given all the 
nomenclature of the parapsychical phenomena, yet the 
above classification may help in their study. 

In so classifying these phenomena, we have at the 
same time classified the sciences to which they belong, 
and we may now divide the parapsychical sciences in 
the manner following : 

In the first degree: 

1. Psychopathy. 

2. Cryptopsychism. 
In the second degree: 

3. Psychodynamism. 

4. Telepsychism. 

5. Hyloscopy. 

However, I should like to say that, since the above 
attempt at classification was published by me in 1893, 



138 OUE HIDDEI^ FORCES 

for the first time, in the Annates des Sciences 
Psychiques of Dr. Dariex, my ideas have greatly devel- 
oped. Since then I have added certain contributions 
which may serve to make them more complete. 

There is no distinct place in science for all the en- 
semble of facts which the public calls "spiritism," and 
which, for many of our colleagues, form the most in- 
teresting and important of psychic phenomena. 

If we make abstraction of all hypotheses upon the 
origin of mediumistic and spiritistic phenomeaa (and 
in using these two words, we lay stress upon the abstrac- 
tion which we make of such hypotheses), it seems, at 
first sight, that these facts, taken in themselves, belong 
to the classifications above referred to. They should 
be psychopathic, cryptopsychic, psychodynamic, etc. 

For example : Is not the comatic state of the medium 
or subject a simple phenomenon of spontaneous 
psychopathy ? A case of auto-suggestion or self-hypnosis 
studied experimentally by the Schools of the Sal- 
petriere and E'ancy ? In the same manner, are not the 
so-called mediumistic "messages'' obtained through 
table-rapping, table-tilting, automatic writing, and 
various other devices, spontaneous cryptopsychical phe- 
nomena, absolutely comparable to the phenomena of 
the transfer of the personality as obtained by Professor 
Pierre Janet ? ^ The actions of levitation, translation, 
etc., imparted by the medium to material objects; 

" Automatisme psychologique and Nevroses et Idees fixes, Pierre 
Janet. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUKE 139 

luminous and form-apparitions, materializations ob- 
served in certain spiritistic seances — are they not but 
spontaneous psychodynamic phenomena ? If these be 
real, they will be obtained experimentally on the day 
when science finds herself in possession of the necessary 
laws and conditions which govern them. The same 
would apply to the spontaneous, telepsychical phe- 
nomena frequently reported as happening in those spir- 
itistic seances: thought-reading, clairvoyance, etc. 

Thus, adopting this analytical point of view, spiritis- 
tic and mediumistic phenomena would not constitute 
a distinct order of parapsychical phenomena; rather a 
decidedly variable combination of parapsychical phe- 
nomena belonging to psychopathy, cryptopsychism, 
psychodynamism, etc. 

In fact, their manifestation presents a twofold aspect : 
(1) They are essentially spontaneous; and (2) they 
imply, at least hypothetically, the intervention of per- 
sonalities seemingly distinct from all other visible per- 
sonalities present in the phenomena themselves. 

In contra-distinction to hypnotic, suggestive, mag- 
netic experimentation, such results cannot be obtained 
at will. As a matter of fact, the word experiment is 
thoroughly inadequate. Maxwell in his Psychic Phe- 
nomena says : ^'The peculiar character of psychic phe- 
nomena is their apparent independence. Experiments 
guide or lead us: they are not easily conducted. One 
would incline to believe that they obey a will foreign 
to any of the sitters." Maxwell sounds an emphatic 



140 OUR HIDDEE^ FORCES 

note of warning against the prevalent supposition that 
these things can be observed at v^ill. 

Again he says: '^Every time that a paid subject is 
expected to give you regular sittings, there will be one 
hundred chances to one that you will meet with failure. 
The fact is certain that the character of the phenomena 
is at least irregular. I have experimented with edu- 
cated mediums who, in the best interests of science, were 
naturally anxious for results. During weeks of experi- 
mentation I barely obtained one good seance. At other 
least expected moments, however, without the regular 
seance preparations, we obtained results in abundance." 

As to the second aspect (and the character of this 
is closely allied to the first), these facts suggest to the 
observer the hypothesis of an invisible personality, dis- 
tinct from that of the medium or of those of the sitters 
as their causal agents. They appear to possess, in them- 
selves, a personality; nay, it is claimed they give to 
themselves a personality. 

That this be real or not, that the affirmation be true 
or false, is a point upon which opinions can be, and are, 
divided. ISTevertheless, the appearance and the affirma- 
tion exist, and characterize this order of facts. 

To quote Maxwell '^ again : ^'The most peculiar fact 
about these psychical experiments is that the force which 
manifests itself seems to have a certain amount of in- 
telligence. ... In general these manifestations are at- 
tributed to a deceased person, known or unknown. 

' Les phe7iomenes psychiques. 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTUEE 141 

"I call personification any order of being wlio claims 
to be manifest. One can but make a hypotbesis as to its 
essence. Tbe skepticism during tbe wbole of my ob- 
servations may not be rigbtly founded; and perbaps it 
would be more courteous, after all, to give it tbe defer- 
ence we would sbow a co-experimenter. Sucb a prudent 
attitude pays best in tbe long run. In practice, I bave 
for tbe personification tbe same regard as for tbe 
medium. ... I call it by tbe name it bas given itself, 
wbile at tbe same time insisting gently on precisions as 
to my quest. Its belp, wbatever foundation it may pos- 
sess, I bave found indispensable.^'^ 

Wbatever may be tbe presentation of tbe cbaracters 
or aspects of tbese mediumistic or spiritistic pbenomena, 
it seems to us necessary to give tbem a special place all 
to tbemselves in a general classification of tbe para- 
psychic pbenomena. Tbis classification sbould, tbere- 

^ Close observation reveals, in psychic phenomena, that the 
emergence of these secondary personalities present certain particu- 
lar characteristics: notably, the possession of certain information 
inaccessible to the normal personality. These may coexist, with- 
out the slightest trouble being apparent, in the motor and sensitive 
spheres. In other instances they so control the normal personality 
as to make it lose the use and the sensation of one or several 
members. Also, the personification may take possession of the 
whole organism, when it then becomes the phenomenon of incarna- 
tion. When it has attained its maximum development, it displays 
a remarkable spirit of autonomy, more difficult to control by sug- 
gestion than during its other intermediary states of evolution. 
What are these personifications? An illusion? A spirit? A col- 
lective consciousness? I do not know. But what, at least, I realize, 
although all is possible, is that one cannot trust them implicitly. 



142 OUE HIDDEIST FORCES 

fore, include a third order, specially reserved to the 
mediumistic phenomena. 

Here follows the classification : 

1. All phenomena seemingly capable of being ex- 
plained by the forces already Tcnown, supposing that 
these forces, given certain conditions, operate according 
to certain laws which we do not know yet — laws more or 
less different from those we already know. 

2. All phenomena seemingly implying the interven- 
tion of forces still unknown, of agents distinct from all 
those that science has already discovered and studied 
but which normally belong to our world ; in other words, 
belonging to the ensemble of agents and forces which we 
call nature, and which are, in fact, intra-natural. 

3. Phenomena seemingly implying the intervention 
of certain forces, not supernatural, hut extra-natural, 
which, while not belonging to our world in a normal 
way, do suddenly make an irruption in l^ature, out- 
side of a sphere of existence usually foreign to our own. 

To make the above definitions clearer, let us delineate 
them somewhat differently : 

All the phenomena of the first order bear a certain 
analogy to those observed in sleep. Often they are fol- 
lowed by sleep, or by a state similar to sleep. We there- 
fore would propose the word hypnoidal to define them. 

The force or forces, hypothetical, which seem to man- 
ifest themselves in all phenomena of the second order, 
bear, as other observers have remarked, a close re- 
semblance to electricity and magnetism. These, then, 



PSYCHOLOGY OF THE FUTURE 143 

could be called electroidal and magnetoidal phenomena. 

The phenomena of the third order, which seem to im- 
ply an intelligent force, a spirit, could be called s-pirir 
toidaL 

Such a classification, now apparently complete and 
precise, can, after all, be but provisory, since it is 
founded on the appearances under which the para- 
psychical phenomena present themselves. 

This is not a summing up of the scientific knowledge 
of these phenomena. For it is precisely tJie knowledge 
of these phenomena which should he instituted. This is 
simply a classification which we believe necessary in 
order to facilitate their study. 

Perhaps some day a deeper knowledge of the spiri- 
toidal phenomena will lead us to conclude that, after all, 
they are but of hypnoidal and magnetoidal origin. It 
should even be in this direction that our steps are 
guided. Of course we do not have the right to adopt 
this hypothesis at first sight; for the contrary may 
equally be possible. 

As much may be said of the magnetoidal phenomena 
in relation to the hypnoidal; and, in final analysis, of 
the whole of the parapsychical phenomena in relation to 
the psychical or, as it is preferably said, to the ^ ^normal 
psychological." 



CHAPTEE VI 

-KTew Experimental Method in Hypnology 

The observations made in the foregoing chapter were 
the starting-point of new researches. 

As it would be wearisome to read the results in de- 
tail, I shall give here only a few words on the rules 
employed in this new method of experimentation.^ 

1. You should always experiment with subjects in 
the waking state. Subjects previously hypnotized are 
naturally in a state of greater sensitiveness, and the sen- 
sitiveness of their nervous system thus developed helps 
advantageously for future experimental success. How- 
ever, this does not constitute an indispensable condi- 
tion. I have obtained some excellent results with people 
who had not previously been submitted to ^ny influence. 

The point which I wish here to emphasize is that, 
during the course of these special experiments, I not 
only do not attempt to put the subjects to sleep hyp- 
notically, but I carefully avoid doing anything which 
might tend to modify their normal state in any way 
whatsoever. 

2. Your subjects should have their eyes bandaged, 

^ For a full discussion of the results obtained, see the chapter 
entitled ' ' The Conductibility of Psychic Force. ' ' 

144 



NEW METHOD m HYPi^OLOGY 145 

from the very start, and during the whole of the pro- 
ceedings. It should be made impossible for them to 
see anything. You will find the best thing for the pur- 
pose a piece of black cloth, thick enough to intercept 
all light, covering the forehead, the eyes, the nose, and 
the ears. The mask should be made to fit tightly on the 
upper lip, the subject breathing through the mouth, 
instead of through the nose, during the period of ex- 
perimentation. 

It is absolutely necessary, for the validity of the ex- 
periment, that the subject be masked in such a manner 
that it will be impossible for him to see. 

3. During the whole of the seance, the most rigorous 
silence must be imposed on all alike. The sitters should 
be attentive to all that happens and should understand 
without asking questions or exchanging opinions. If 
certain explanations are necessary, they should be giv- 
en in writing. 

The subject, alone, is allowed to speak, to say what 
he feels; without, however, being interrogated. 

All articles, objects, instruments, used during the 
seance must be brought into the room only after the 
subject has had his eyes bandaged, and without his 
knowledge that such will be used. 

4. ISTo bodily contact is to be allowed. There should 
exist no possibility for the subject to substitute the sense 
of touch for that of sight and hearing, in the attempt 
to ascertain what is happening. 

5. You should combine your tests in such a manner 



146 OUR hidde:^^ foeces 

that the experimenter himself — if only so for the first 
time — should be placed in the position of guessing as 
to what may be the result. 

As can easily be realized, these precautions aim at the 
physical and mental isolation of the subject. He must 
be in such a position as to ignore completely the nature 
of the experiments; he should be in the same position 
as that of an instrument in a laboratory. 

Admitting that the five rules of this new experimen- 
tal method are rigidly adhered to, you may proceed as 
follows : 

In ways that can be infinitely varied, place your 
hand at 5, 10, 15 centimeters (from 2 to 8 inches), 
with straightened-out fingers, keeping still for a while 
and pointing to any part of the body : front, back, right 
side, left side, shoulder, arm, wrist, hand, knee, foot, 
stomach, etc. 

The results which you will obtain may be summar- 
ized in the following twelve propositions. And they are 
but a few among the many which still remain to be dis- 
covered. 

1. The time necessary for the production of an effect 
(phenomenon) varies according to the temperament of 
the experimenter. In my own case the effects took 
place after an average of 30 seconds. 

2. The nature of these effects varies also with the 
subjects. With the more sensitive something always 
happens, although not constant in recurrence; in others 
the effects produced are constant in nature. 



NEW METHOD W HYPISTOLOGY 147 

3. Everything happens as if the human organism 
(the human body) generates, at least with some people, 
an influence of unknown nature, capable of action at 
a distance on the organism of other individuals. 

4. Most individuals appear to be good conductors of 
this influence. It seems as if the influence goes more 
or less rapidly through the entire mass of their bodies, 
and as if it becomes dispersed, on reaching the exterior, 
without producing any visible effects. On the other 
hand, with had conductors, those called '^subjects/' this 
influence would appear to accumulate and be stored for 
a certain length of time, in the parts of the body where 
it had been directed, with results of a more or less 
marked character. 

5. These are the effects which I have observed so 
far: (a) Analgesia, then anesthesia; first superficial, 
then deeper, (b) More or less violent contractions of 
the muscles in the part pointed at. This is particularly 
observed in the triceps muscle, when the action is 
directed toward the knee, (c) General contraction of 
the parts aimed at, especially in prolonged actions, (d) 
Movements of attraction, by which that part of the sub- 
ject's body is irresistibly drawn to the hand of the ex- 
perimenter. With some, jerky movements are spon- 
taneous, even when the hand is immobile. In others 
they are produced only when the hand is slowly dis- 
placed, when a quasi-mathematical correspondence is 
established between both the movements of the oper- 
ator and those of the subject, (e) Divers sensations 



148 OUR HIDDEI!^ FORCES 

felt, mostly of "heat," often going as far as of scald- 
ing. Sensations of being pricked; tingling; stiffness. 
Most subjects associate these sensations with that of 
electricity. Other parts of the body develop their own 
particular modes of reaction; in certain subjects the 
breathing becomes difficult and irregular when the fin- 
gers are directed toward the pit of the stomach, etc. 

6. This unknown influence emanating from the human 
organism can be conducted to a distance by means of 
a copper wire or of an ordinary wire. You hold one 
end of the wire, and the other is made to face the sub- 
ject. 

7. In certain subjects, as also in certain experimen- 
ters, this influence is 'polarized (is positive and nega- 
tive), the conditions of which are unknown to me. I 
have found, however, that the right hand always pro- 
duces a certain kind of effect, and the left hand an- 
other kind. When the two hands are placed, palm 
against palm, on the body, the effect produced is that 
of the two combined. 

This polarity persists, even, when the influence is 
transmitted by means of the metallic conductor, copper 
or ordinary wire, held with the right hand, the left, 
or with both hands. 

8. This influence emanates particularly through the 
fingers ; from all other portions of the body it emanates, 
apparently, in a more diffused state. To prove this, you 
may fix round your arm a metallic wire, running spirally 
from the hand to the elbow; and on this you ^^ a 



NEW METHOD IN HYPNOLOGY 149 

smaller wire of the same metal. On presenting the 
head of this small wire, the same sensations of prick- 
ing, tingling, stiffness, anesthesia, attraction, etc., are 
obtained. If you fix a similar device round your hand, 
with &Ye metallic fingers adjusted on your own, you 
will greatly increase the rapidity as well as the intensity 
of the effects. 

9. Glass, on the contrary, is a bad conductor for 
this kind of force. It plays the part of isolator. At 
least this is the conclusion to which I have come from 
the following experiment: 

Take a glass rod, 50 centimeters long, and possessing 
a sharp point at one of its extremities. On haK its 
length, twist round it a wire so that its end rests on 
the pointed end of the glass rod. Now take this pre- 
pared rod by its bare end, and hold it for some time, 
on or before any part of the body. Even after 4 to 5 
minutes, the effects will be nil. But if the twisting of 
the wire be now continued to the other end of the glass 
rod, so that the metal comes in contact with the palm, 
on presentation of the rod to parts of the body the 
former effects of anesthesia, etc., will be produced. 

10. All individuals do not possess the faculty of gen- 
erating this unknown influence in such measure as to 
produce effects of an appreciable nature. 

11. On the other hand, if an individual who is ap- 
parently denied the capability of exerting this influence, 
is placed in contact with another who can, he will then 



150 OUR HIDDEIST FOECES 

be able to exert the influence as long as be remains in 
contact witb tbe otber. 

12. In repeating and in prolonging tbe contact, tbe 
influence can be communicated, for a more or less dur- 
able period, to anotber. Tbis otber person, in turn, 
will be capable of using tbis influence and directing it 
tbrougb tbe body of a tbird individual, bimself in- 
capable of exerting sucb action. 

Tbese twelve propositions are a faitbful resume of 
tbe principal facts so far observed, witb a strict appli- 
cation of tbe experimental metbod prescribed for my- 
self. 

I will now complete tbe description of tbe metbod of 
procedure used for tbe verification of tbe various states 
of sensitiveness of tbe subject during tbe course of tbe 
experiments : 

Suppose tbat tbe rotula of bis left knee is cbosen for 
tbe experiment. Tbe experimenter bas placed bis own 
band upon it. l^ow one of tbe sitters present aims 
(witb tbe ^Ye tips of bis fingers close togetber) at vari- 
ous parts of tbe body of tbe subject, and among tbem 
tbat part wbere tbe experimenter's band is resting. 
Tbe subject verbally announces wbat contacts be feels. 
If be is silent wben tbe finger-tips aim at tbe rotula, 
you may conclude tbat it is anestbetized ; and to test 
its extent you may pincb or prick tbat region of tbe 
body. 

It is not necessary for me to dwell upon tbe impor- 



NEW METHOD IN HYPNOLOGY 151 

tance of all these facts, from tlie points of view of 
hypnology, psyclio-pliysiology, or even from that of 
general physiology. My sole wish is that the greatest 
number possible of experimenters should take the 
trouble to verify, in turn, all the results obtained, while 
complying with a strict observance of the experimental 
methods I have mentioned. 

Should their first results be in the negative, they should 
not hastily conclude that the experiments are worthless, 
or imaginary. Patience should be taken to experiment 
with the greatest number of subjects, either alone or, 
better, with the help of other experimenters. 



CHAPTEE VII 

Mesmerism ai^d Suggestion" 

When Mesmer attempted to explain tlie strange phe- 
nomena whieli he produced by the imposition of his 
hands, his passes, his famous "water tub," by a uni- 
versal fluid analogous to that of the magnet, he met with 
strong opposition. The wise men of the time, the sav- 
ants, preferred to deny these facts, or to declare them 
without importance and foundation, rather than investi- 
gate them. 

In spite of this, however, there appeared quite a dif- 
ferent explanation from that of Mesmer himself. The 
King's commissaries, while timidly framing their "re- 
port," hardly suspected at the time ^ that it would one 
day become the principles of a new theory and of a new 
art — the theory of suggestion and the art of psycho- 
therapy. 

This explanation attributed all the facts observed to 
the imagination of the subject — imagination more or 
less excited and directed unconsciously by the operator ; 
often, under the impression that his influence was 
purely objective. 

^ Paris, 1784. 

152 



MESMEEISM AND SUGGESTION 153 

This theory became almost lost to sight when Braid 
thought he had found an explanation to Mesmer's phe- 
nomena, and to his own, in "a particular state of nerv- 
ous or cerebral fatigue, an exhaustion of the centers sui 
generis^ and determined by a protracted or excessive 
tension of the senses and of the brain." 

Then, along came a third doctrine, which for a time 
eclipsed the other two : hypnotism. 

We know with what zest Charcot and the whole 
School of the Salpetriere adopted and professed it. 
Charcot even went so far as to complete its definition 
by adding that "the hypnotic state" could be produced 
only with hysterical or neuropathic subjects. 

But since the School of Nancy outgrew the Salpetriere 
in the study and application of these phenomena, and es- 
pecially its utilization of hypnotism in the treatment of 
diseases, the views of Liebault and of Bernheim have 
taken the place of those of Charcot. 

Actually, every medical man or scientist who studies 
these questions inclines with Bernheim in believing that 
"suggestion is the key to all hypnotic phenomena . . . 
There is no such thing as hypnotism, everything is sug- 
gestion." ^ 

Dr. Milne-Bramwell in his study of James Braid 
says : "Hypnotism is a particular state of the nervous 
system susceptible of being provoked by various physical 
actions, a state characterized, at least partially, by an 

^ Bevue de Vhypnotisme, Nov., 1897. 



154 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

abnormal exaltation of the suggestibility, a state in 
itself perfectly independent of suggestion." 

To our mind, Braidism is, and remains, distinct from 
suggestion. In the actual state of the question, it is 
not hypnotism which is in opposition to mesmerism, as 
formerly ; it is suggestion. 

For the future this problem resolves itself into these 
terms: 

Are all phenomena, pretended to be magnetic, hyp- 
notic, or suggestive, due to the self-formation of ideas, 
or to the convictions and emotions communicated to 
them which these ideas form in the mind? Or else, 
are these phenomena caused by an objective and occult 
influence radiated by the operators who exert over the 
nervous systems of the subjects an action similar to that 
which the ordinary magnet exerts over iron ? 

We believe, with Durand (de Gros) that suggestion 
and mesmerism are two distinct agents, equally real 
and independent. Yet they can be found in combina- 
tion in the production of common effects. Mesmerism 
can be found without suggestion; and suggestion with- 
out mesmerism. One may have a pseudo-mesmerism 
which is nothing else but suggestion ; and a pseudo-sug- 
gestion which is nothing else than mesmerism. Yet, 
again, mesmerism and suggestion may be found com- 
bined ; this then might be called mesmeric-suggestion or 
suggestive-mesmerism. 

The following example may illustrate a ease of pure 
suggestion without mesmerism: 



MESMEEISM AJSTD SUGGESTI0:N" 155 

!N^ot toncliing nor even looking at the subject, you 
say to him, "Close your eyes. You cannot open them !'' 
And he cannot, no matter how hard he may try. Then 
you add, "When I have counted up to seven, you will 
be able to open them, ^ow— 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 V And 
his eyes fly open. 

In this example, suggestion will be found allied to 
mesmerism : 

If you place your hand open, slightly above the hand 
of a so-called magnetic subject, he will complain, after 
a short while, of feeling an impression of great heat, 
which soon becomes so intolerable that he will beg you 
to take your hand away. When he asks this, you reply, 
"I have no objection to your taking your own hand 
away." But after having made several attempts to 
do so, he finds it impossible. The hand appears, as it 
were, contracted or paralyzed, and stuck where it stood. 
Yet, if you move your hand to and fro, up and down, 
the subject's hand follows these various movements, as 
if an invisible thread connected the two hands. 

It would appear that such an experiment were purely 
of mesmeric order, but in reality the effect produced 
is but a counterfeit of it through suggestion. It is 
but suggestive pseudo-mesmerism. To prove this, 
change but one condition of the experiment : for exam- 
ple, allow the subject to auto-suggest himself, or the 
operator to make a suggestion. Thus, say to the sub- 
ject, as before, "Close your eyes. You cannot open 
them !" And he cannot. If now you place your hand 



156 OUE HIDDEN EOECES 

above his, as before, move it to and fro, up and down, 
the subject feels nothing whatever, and makes no move- 
ment, your hand being apparently incapable of exert- 
ing any influence. 

The fact that the subject's eyes remained closed is 
the key to the situation. Auto-suggestion, in the first 
instance, while the eyes remained open, was responsible 
for the motions of the hand. 

Experiments of this nature delight the hearts of 
the enemies of mesmerism; for they ejaculate with 
Bernheim : ^^ You see there is no such thing as mesmer- 
ism; suggestion is everything; for the supposed mag- 
netic influence acts only so long as the subject can 
be suggested, or allowed to suggest himself." 

These were the arguments opposed to the original 
assertions of Mesmer from the beginning, by the King's 
commissaries in their report. 

Of course, such experiments as the above are not the 
only ones upon which mesmeric argumentation is 
based. There are others where suggestion is completely 
eliminated, yet the effects due to magnetism persist in- 
dubitably, as real and demonstrative. The reason for 
this is that the subjects, not purely of the suggestible 
order, are really se^isitive to magnetism. 

It is evident that suggestible subjects, with whom 
pseudo-magnetic effects can be obtained, are more com- 
monly found than the real magnetic sensitives. With 
diligence, however, one may discover subjects sensi- 
tive not only to suggestion, but also to magnetic influ- 



MESMEEISM Al^D SUGGESTI0:N' 157 

ence. Personally, I have known ^ye such magnetic sub- 
jects. With two of them,^ particularly, have I been 
fortunate in obtaining good results in the most severe 
of test conditions : G. P., a young electrical engineer, 
and L. Y., a student of law and philosophy. 

As soon as they would arrive for the seance, I would 
welcome them, make them comfortable, ask them to sit 
down and agree to have their eyes blindfolded. In 
almost every instance, they were left in the waking 
state. ]N"othing was done to modify the state of their 
minds. During the whole of the sittings, not a word 
was spoken by myself or any of the sitters. But at the 
start the subjects were asked to "describe whatever they 
felt, if they did feel anything at all.'' With conditions 
such as these, we obtained the most varied and specific 
results, on all parts of the organism, corresponding to 
the positions and movements of my hands, either the 
right hand or the left, or both. 

To illustrate this point, let me describe the proceed- 
ings of three sittings, arranged so as to place in con- 
flict the theories of mesmerism and suggestion. 

1. The subject G. P., in the waking state and blind- 
folded, is told that I am going to experiment as long 
as is necessary to produce a magnetic effect, and so that 
he may be able to let me know exactly when the effect 
occurs, I will tell him that I am about to produce an 

^See Bevue de Vhypnotisme, Nov., 1896, and the article by A. de 
Eochas in Annates des Sciences PsycJiique, May-June, 1895. 



158 OUR HIDDE]^ FORCES 

attraction effect on his right hand, and I ask him to 

concentrate his attention upon it. 

After this preparatory suggestion, I say, "I begin," 
at the same time making any sort of motion with my 
right hand, but not that of placing it opposite the right 
hand of the subject. After 2 or 3 minutes, the subject, 
who has been very attentive, murmurs : "It is strange, 
but I do not feel anything. It seems as if something has 
gone wrong." And then, all of a sudden, he exclaims : 
"Oh, no ! I do feel something ; but it is in the left knee. 
It is not an attraction; it is a tingling sensation." 

In reality I had placed my left hand to within a few 
inches of his left knee. (In his case, my left hand 
produced a tingling sensation, whereas my right pro- 
duced an attraction, on his left knee.) 

These results I always obtained, with the exception of 
details, no matter what part of the body I operated 
upou' — the subject always being in the waking state. 

This tends to prove, at least with this particular sub- 
ject, that suggestion in the waking state is incapable of 
simulating the magnetic effect. 

2. The subject G. P., with eyes bandanged, is in- 
duced into the state of fascination, or suggestibility, in 
which he becomes extremely suggestible. He is asked 
to fix his attention on one of his hands, while being told 
that he will feel it attracted by an irresistible force. As 
soon as I have proffered the words, "I begin," the sub- 
ject's hand is seen to rise, although I do not act on it 
or touch it. 



MESMEEISM AND SUGGESTIOE' 159 

In this state, therefore, suggestion is quite sufficient 
to simulate magnetic action. 

But if, at the same time and without uttering a sin- 
gle word, I place my hand opposite the subject's other 
hand, this one will be attracted. 

These effects have been produced simultaneously, by 
two different causes : one by magnetic action, the other 
by suggestion. 

3. The subject G. P. is still in the state of suggesti- 
hility and blindfolded. I suggest to him that in order 
to act exclusively on one side of his body, I have to 
induce a state of inertia in that side — which I do. I 
now test the effect of this suggestion and find that one 
side of his body is in a state of lethargy and anesthesia. 

Here again is obtained, through suggestion, apart 
from any real action, a phenomenon of attraction, in 
the limbs where the actions of sensibility and motriciiy 
remained intact. 

But, if I direct my right hand toward his knee or 
foot (both in the lethargic and anesthetic state), I find 
that in spite of suggestion, movements of attraction are 
being obtained. 

Therefore, the conclusion at which one may arrive is 
that mesmeric action acts independently of suggestion; 
that in certain cases it can oppose, even annul, the effects 
of suggestion. 

It is on record that Liebault and Bernheim, of the 
School of ISTancy, after vainly attempting by suggestion, 
to cure a woman patient of pains in the stomach, sue- 



160 OUE HIDDEN FOKCES 

ceeded in curing her by means of "magnetic passes." 
In their own minds, however, they believed that they 
had, at last, found out the right way to give her "sug- 
gestion" ! 

When attempting scientifically to prove that human 
magnetism exists (or any such force, call it by what 
name you care to), it becomes necessary always to bear 
in mind its possible intervention in the ensemble of phe- 
nomena hitherto attributed solely to the influence of 
hypnotism, or to suggestion. 

In the same way that we attempted to eliminate sug- 
gestion from our experiments in magnetism, so magne- 
tism should be eliminated from all experiments in sug- 
gestion. 

The School of Nancy said, with reason, that the 
ancient mesmerists used "suggestion" ; but it can equally 
be said that they often "mesmerized" when treating by 
suggestion. 

It may be that the look, the contact, the passes, the 
personality of the operator, etc., act on the patient or 
subject merely as an influence purely suggestive. But 
it may also be that, to the suggestive influence is added, 
with others, a magnetic influence — or substituted for it. 
Perhaps, after all, they are the effects of one and the 
same cause, and much time might be lost on an attempt 
at their identification. But that which is certain is 
that they are produced under different conditions and 
according to different laws. 



MESMERISM AND SUGGESTION" 161 

This reserved attitude may be explained by our view- 
point, wbicli is essentially "experimental." 

From tbis viewpoint it may be said that mesmerism 
and braidism render more easy tbe work which sug- 
gestion has to perform. They prepare, as it were, the 
ground upon which suggestion has to maneuver. Say 
to the first man you meet, "You cannot get up !" and he 
will hold you in derision, unless, being naturally sensi- 
tive, he actually cannot get up. But if you submit 
him to certain magnetic passes, it may so happen that 
in spite of his incredulity and resistance, your sugges- 
tion will then produce the desired effect. 

Thus, it may be inferred, for example, that if the 
gTeat masters of suggestion — Liebault, Bernheim, 
Quackenbos, etc. — succeed in applying suggestion to 
such great numbers of people, it is not due to their 
ability nor to their consummate experience and tech- 
nical knowledge of suggestion. It is because they un- 
consciously exert an exceptional magnetic power. And 
this, too, would explain the marked inequality preva- 
lent among the various suggestion practitioners. Our 
personal experiments have proved to us that this "mag- 
netic power'' is not equally imparted to all human be- 
ings. 

Suppose, again, our subject G. P., in the waking 
state and with his eyes hermetically sealed. Let us 
suppose there are ten people present, and they have 
agreed to maintain perfect silence throughout the en- 
tire seance. If communications must necessarily be 



162 OUR HIDDEISr FORCES 

made, these will be done in writing. Each one of these 
ten people, differing in age and sex, will in turn place 
his or her hand facing that part of the body of the 
subject to be experimented upon. It \vill then be 
observed that some of the ten operators produce the 
same effects of anesthesia, contraction, attraction, etc., 
which I myself produce, with more or less rapidity 
and intensity. Others will not produce even so much 
as. an effect, until after 10, 15, or 20 minutes of the 
hand presentation. 

It is shown, therefore, that some people emanate this 
magnetic action more freely than others, although there 
is nothing to indicate this at first sight. These mag- 
netic tests reveal the invariable nature, as to quality 
and intensity of action, of each sitter. In a second 
experiment the same effects produced by an efficient 
operator would be repeated in as short a time as on 
the former occasion, and those having little of the mag- 
netic ability would be no more effective than before. 

But here is an extraordinary phenomenon : The mag- 
netic influence can be transmitted, at least momentarily. 
A magnetic individual can give some of his magnetic 
power to those who do not possess it. 

Suppose that Mr. A., after 20 minutes of presenting 
his hand, produces no visible effects on the magnetic 
subject; and Mr. B. influences the subject in less than 
1 minute. It will be sufficient for Mr. B. to give his 
hand to Mr. A., and for Mr. A. then to present his 
other hand to any part of the subject; in one minute 



MESMEEISM AND SUGGESTIOIST 163 

he will have produced all the effects of contraction, 
anesthesia, etc., which he was incapable of producing 
alone. But let Mr. B. withdraw his hand ; immediately 
Mr. A. becomes once more ineffective. 

I have made still another successful experiment ; this 
time with a very well known scientist and philosopher 
friend of mine, Mr. A. F. It shows that, if the non- 
magnetic person remain in the contact of a magnetic 
person for a certain length of time, he will acquire — 
accumulate, as it were — the magnetic influence in such 
sufficient quantity as to be able to operate alone for 
a good length of time. 

Such experiments, multiplied methodically, scien- 
tifically controlled, and studied by a large number of 
observers, would throw a great light not only upon the 
differences between and the rapports in mesmerism and 
suggestion, but also upon the various influences which 
human beings exert upon one another in the course of 
every-day life. 

The following experiment, although conducted but 
once, is not in the least to be overlooked, as it is full of 
food for thought, and material for future experimenta- 
tion. It would tend to prove that the efficacy of the 
'power of suggestion rests on a mesmeric rapport — ^medi- 
ate or immediate — between the subject and the operator. 

After having held my hand for half a minute to the 
forehead of G. P., a few minutes were sufiicient to have 
him in the first characteristic state of extraordinary 
suggestibility. Outwardly he showed all appearances 



164 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

of the waking state. If, while in this state, some one in 
the room gave him suggestions tending to produce hal- 
lucination, lethargy, or paralysis, G. P. would not obey, 
although hearing perfectly and understanding every 
word. If, however, the suggestioner held my hand, 
G. P. (blindfolded, of course) obeyed the suggestions 
immediately. 

So it is that, in numerous cases, mesmeric action 
plays an important part, unsuspected or unknown to 
practitioners of suggestion. In any case, the question 
is sufficiently important to be studied, not as it is too 
often done, with objections of a purely theoretical order, 
but in the only justifiable way: by practical experi- 
mentation. 

I think it can be admitted that the agent animating 
the nerves of man's organism and conducting the sensi- 
tive impressions to the brain, while presiding over the 
motor actions and impulses is, at the same time, also 
that which becomes the vehicle for magnetic influence 
exerted by one individual over another. The action by 
which my brain moves my arm is, after all, identical 
with the action by which it would move the arm of an- 
other person. 

Put suggestion such as understood by the School of 
l^ancy, as well as by almost every other school the world 
over to-day, is nothing more than a particular form of 
action of the brain and of the nervous system over the 
rest of the organism. Not greatly different from that 
of magnetism! 



MESMEEISM AND SUGGESTION 165 

Only, it seems tliat the unknown force, the agent for 
the production of all these extraordinary phenomena — 
call it nerve force, neuric energy, what you will — ^mani- 
fests itseK in conditions of diffusibility and conducti- 
bility particularly its own. In normal individuals and 
in the normal state, this force animating the system 
follows, as it were, certain constant and preordained 
channels. If some internal or external cause tends to 
upset its natural balance, it reacts immediately in a 
manner that will tend to reestablish it. Further, it 
receives, without a doubt, the radiations of other, for- 
eign nervous systems, which it absorbs, neutralizes and 
transforms. This reception of extraneous force is, 
however, unconscious and imperceptible. 

On the contrary, each time that the phenomena of 
suggestion or magnetism become possible, this force 
then seems to acquire the property of rapid mobiliza- 
tion in all parts of the human organism; so much so 
that, under the action of the will or of the imagination, 
or under the action of certain physical agents and influ- 
ences, it travels and accumulates itself instantaneously 
in certain parts while it abandons and evacuates cer- 
tain others. Also, it would seem as if it had ceased 
to remain impenetrable, or indifferent, to the force of 
a similar nature which another nervous system sends it. 
It will allow itself to be influenced by it, as if both 
belonged to one and the same individual, and as if 
regulated by the very same consciousness. 

To sum it all up, the condition common to all these 



166 OUE HIDDElSr FORCES 

phenomena seems to he an abnormal plasticity of the 
nerve force, wMcJi finds itself capable of receiving faith- 
fully all the impressions coming from within. It he- 
comes then auto-suggestion. 

And when these impressions are being received from 
outside, it is mesmerism, whether found in its simpler 
state or accompanied by the kind of telepathy improp- 
erly called ^'mental suggestion." 



CHAPTEK VIII 

The Peovocatioi?^ of Sleep at a Distance 

What is the mechanical process operating in the pro- 
duction of hypnosis? Is it a simple effect of suggestion? 
Or, as pretended hy the School of Nancy, is it a con- 
scious expectation and conviction on the part of the 
subject ? Or is it a much more complicated mechanism 
than that of the Nancy theories, implying on the part 
of the operator a personal influence quite distinct from 
suggestion ? 

The following is the incident which set me on this 
line of research: 

In September, 1892, 1 went with my family to a sum- 
mer resort, Amelie-les-Bains, for my vacation. 

At the Casino thought-reading seances were given 
by a Mr. Dockman, aged twenty, medium height, dark 
hair and complexion, lean in structure, and of a very 
nervous temperament. My curiosity being awakened, 
I decided to go there, merely as a spectator. 

You know the kind of performance, where the mem- 
bers of the audience attempt to transmit their will by 
mere mental effort, without contact, gesture, or spoken 
words. The man previously had been a subject for 

167 



168 OUR HIDDEIST FORCES 

hypnotic experimentation to a naval doctor, and since 
had taken up this profession of thought-reading in 
public. 

Studying and watching him closely, I found that 
he was not as accurate as he might be. He confessed 
later that it was so, and that to obtain his results, he 
tried to guess what was wanted of him from all sorts 
of exterior indications. 

Smilingly I suggested, ^^You should again be put 
under magnetic sleep to recover your lucidity. If you 
wish it, I am ready to render you this service." 

Dockman laughed and replied, "The shoe is on the 
other foot. It is I who send people to sleep." 

A few days later, the mayor of the town being de- 
sirous of witnessing a mesmeric seance, we selected 
Dockman as a willing subject. Thus in the evening 
at 6 p. M., in the presence of five sitters, I took him by 
the thumbs, fixed my gaze into his, and in a few min- 
utes he was in the comatic state, rigidly cataleptic. His 
jaws set. With the greatest difficulty I obtained replies 
to my questions. And the waking up was very slow. 
Again I placed him in a sleep; with the same results 
as before, except that the waking was quicker this time. 
I came then to the conclusion that my subject was not 
interesting, as there was little to obtain from him. 

The next day, however, sitting in the garden of the 
Casino, I saw Dockman at another table, with a friend 
who was reading a newspaper. Dockman's back was 



THE PEOYOCATIOI^ OF SLEEP 169 

turned to me, and he was in the act of rolling a cigar- 
ette. 

At this precise moment I conceived the idea of con- 
centrating mj thoughts, with the whole strength of my 
will, upon Dockman. I willed that he should fall into 
a sleep and cease all movements. At no time was he 
aware of my looking at him. In a very short while, 
his movements became slower, his head drooped, the 
cigarette, unfinished, fell from his hand, and Dock- 
man sank into a deep sleep. 

His friend, having finished reading his newspaper, 
called out to him, but obtained no reply. An actress sit- 
ting at the neighboring table became alarmed and 
rushed out, screaming for help. 

Then I got up, went to Dockman, blew over his eyes, 
and so woke him up from his slumber, without his hav- 
ing realized what had taken place. 

This experiment, conducted spontaneously, left me 
astounded, as I did not expect the slightest result. 

The next day, again, an opportunity offered itself 
to renew the experiment. It was 1 p. m., on the terrace 
of the Casino. This time Dockman was alone, sitting 
and writing at a table, so bent over that his nose almost 
reached the blotter. My own table was about six yards 
away. Between the man and myself were four other 
men, busily playing cards. 

Once more I concentrated my thoughts, with such 
intensity that my head trembled with the tension of the 
muscles of the neck. Mentally I ordered Dockman to 



170 OUE HIDDE]^ EORCES 

stop writing, or to fall asleep. The action was less 
rapid than on the previous day. It seemed as if he 
were struggling against something. In two minutes 
he began to show certain signs of contraction. His pen 
became inert. With the other hand he made a gesture 
as if to drive away some obsessing influence. Then he 
tore up his letter and began to write another. But soon 
his pen remained motionless, and in that position he 
fell asleep. 

Some of the card players and I then approached him. 
We found his body entirely contracted, and as rigid as 
a stone. It was impossible to get his arm bent. Under 
the influence of certain passes which I made the body 
lost its rigidity, and by blowing a few cold breaths 
over his eyes, he awoke! 

When Dockman later came back to his senses, he 
assured me that, both times, he had fallen asleep with- 
out having the slightest suspicion of being used in any 
way. 

This peculiar provocation of sleep at a distance, with- 
out the knowledge of the patient, set me all the keener 
on other such similar attempts. With my usual sub- 
ject, G. P., I conducted for six months early in 1894 
a series of experiments. And again from February, 
1895, till July, 1896. These experiments were con- 
ducted at regular intervals. And during the whole of 
this period, in the most varied of tests, the phenomenon 
of ''sleep provoked at a distance/' by mental action only. 



THE PEOVOCATIOlSr OF SLEEP 171 

as well as the ''awahing from a distance,'' was produced 
as often as was desired. 

This phenomenon is now, for me, as familiar and as 
easy of production as sleep induced by suggestion, the 
gaze, or passes. A few of the experiments, I think, 
should be given here, as examples. 

In the first place, it should be said that the particular 
test difficulty is that the subject must not suspect, even 
in the slightest degree, the intention of the experi- 
menter. Sleep in the subject must be induced at the 
least expected moment. It should be left entirely to the 
hazard of conditions for the improvisation of favorable 
opportunities. Hence the somewhat anecdotal form of 
the following descriptions : 

February 27, 1895. G. P. had just been mes- 
merically put to sleep. But as the tests of attraction, 
pricking, anesthesia, were irritating him that evening, 
I decided to wake him. It was done in a second or 
two. Meanwhile I let him rest and talk with me. 
Seeing that the fire in the chimney was on the verge of 
going out, I called the maid to light it up again. As 
she did so, and as we had remained silent, my gaze 
resting in the direction of the hearth, I decided there 
and then to will G. P. to sleep mentally, with all the 
power of my concentration. In less than one minute, 
and before the fire was alight, he was fast asleep. 

After ten minutes — during which he had slept 
soundly — I went to the window, and, with my back 



172 OUR hidde:n' forces 

turned on him, looking outside, I menially ordered 
him to awaken. Within the short space of one minute 
he gave a deep sigh and awoke from his coma. 

A few minutes afterward I again put him to sleep, 
bj the sole action of willing, and I woke him by the 
same process. 

When he woke after the first sleep, I asked him the 
reason why he had '^gone off" without my permission. 
He replied: "All of a sudden I felt in my head the 
same sort of heat and the same kind of trouble which 
always precedes magnetic sleep." This is all the reply 
I could obtain from him ; and this is what he reiterated 
subsequently, whenever I asked for enlightenment on 
the subject. 

Many are the people whom I have admitted to wit- 
ness these tests. Among them, one evening, was a 
Mr. K., a medical assistant in the clinic of Dr. Berillon. 
He was accompanied by a friend whom he used as a 
mesmeric subject. 

After having shown them a certain number of ex- 
periments with my subject, G. P., as above described, 
I asked them to experiment before me. Mr. K.'s subject 
then was induced into comatic sleep hy suggestion. 
G. P., meanwhile, was looking on at the proceedings 
with great curiosity. As his attention, along with the 
other spectators, was riveted upon Mr. K. and his sub- 
ject, I mentally ordered him to fall asleep. But under 
similar circumstances, when his attention was keenly 



THE PEOVOCATION OF SLEEP 173 

excited, lie always opposed me, thougli quite 11110011- 
sciously, by a strong resistance. It took me three min- 
utes to provoke him to sleep. 

When he became fast asleep, I called this to the atten- 
tion of the assistants, who had remained all the time 
unaware of my intention. They believed that G. P.'s 
state was due to the action of "sympathy" ^ while look- 
ing on. But I gave them to understand by certain signs 
that nothing of the kind was the case. Seeing, however, 
that they were not convinced of this, I wrote on a piece 
of paper, which I passed round : "I am going to wake 
him up mentally. Watch it !" 

And while Mr. K. tranquilly proceeded with his 
ov/n subject, I mentally ordered G. P. to wake up. At 
the end of two minutes of mental tension, he woke ; and, 
judging from his countenance and from his words, no 
doubts were left as to the fact that he knew the cause 
of his unexpected little "nap.'' 

As I desired very ardently to convince my friends of 
the reality of this phenomenon, I seized an opportunity 
which presented itself in the following manner : 

Mr. K.'s subject was only in a half-comatic state. 
Mr. K. suggested to him then, in loud tones, that when 
the clock on the wall struck ten, he would fall into a 
deep sleep. The clock then showed ten minutes to ten. 
This caused G. P., now wide awake, to become greatly 

*The state of *' sympathy ' ' is that produced when a subject or 
sensitive imitates the various actions and attitudes of another 
subject in a state of coma. — ^W. de K. 



174 OUR HIDDEN^ FORCES 

curious, his eyes going to and fro, from the subject to 
the clock, waiting for results! 

At this moment I circulated a note among the sitters, 
telling them my intentions. (G. P., being accustomed 
to see me circulating notes, takes no notice of the fact.) 

When the clock marked ^ve minutes to ten, G. P. was 
sound asleep. I left him thus, till fifteen minutes after 
ten. \ 

Again I circulated a note, to the effect that I was 
now about to wake G. P. by mental command, without 
word or gesture, by the sole effort of the will. And 
G. P. woke. When he regained full control of his con- 
sciousness, at the very point where it had been broken, he 
expected Mr. K.'s subject to become deeply asleep when 
the clock struck ten. He looked up — and finding the 
clock marking nearly twenty minutes past ten he was 
so stupefied that he declared that he did not understand 
anything more. 

Up to this moment I had produced sleep with G. P. 
only through mental action at a distance ; and this only 
in the course of preparation of a seance when he was 
more or less under magnetic influence. The question 
arose in my mind — would it be possible for me to pro- 
duce sleep through mental action only, at the very onset 
of^a seance, even when G. P. had been absent for eight 
or ten days? Subsequent experiments proved that it 
was indeed possible. 

Hitherto, however^ in all the experiments described 



THE PROVOCATION^ OF SLEEP 175 

above, comatic conditions of the subject were produced 
when in the same room. No material obstacle inter- 
vened between bim and myself, tbe operator. The dis- 
tance, also, was not very great. Could, tben, tbe phe- 
nomenon be produced when subject and operator were 
in two different rooms? With one or more doors be- 
tween us ? 

This is how I solved the problem: 

After a long seance, in which Mr. K. had assisted, 
G. P. asked to return home and retire. But, outside, 
the rain was pelting down in fury, as it can do in Paris. 
G. P., deciding to wait a while until the storm had 
abated, did so in the ante-room, as he did not wish 
to come back into the main room. I left him, then, 
alone, returning to my friends and closing the door 
behind me. 

The moment was propitious to attempt the experi- 
ment, and there and then I decided to do it. The con- 
ditions, also, could not have been better. 

One minute's mental concentration had the desired 
effect. On opening the door, we found G. P. rigidly 
asleep on the chair where he sat. We closed the door 
again, and this time I mentally sent the order to wake 
up. 

Another minute^ and we opened the door, to find 
that G. P. had just awakened, and was preparing to 
smoke a cigarette, evidently unconscious of his short 
lapse into sleep. 



176 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

On another occasion, when many friends and visitors 
had assembled in my house, among whom was G. P., I 
left the room suddenly. Owing to the great number 
of people present, no one really noticed my absence, 
except the friend I took with me to the other end of 
the house. G. P., meanwhile, was "all eyes and all 
ears" in the general conversation. Several closed doors 
and a long corridor separated us. 

E^ow, then, I mentally ordered that G. P. should fall 
asleep in the midst of the reception room. I sent my 
friend there to see what happened, while I remained 
behind. In the space of one minute or so, my assistant 
came back, saying: "He is asleep." 

I then had him return to the room. Then I ordered 
mentally that G. P. should wake. Scarcely had the space 
of one minute elapsed when my assistant came back tri- 
umphant, announcing : "He has awakened ! Come and 
seel" It would have been most interesting to have 
conducted experiments of this nature from a greater 
distance. But personally I did not dare do so; my 
objection being that, owing to the great distance, even 
supposing that the experiment were a success, I would 
have had no means of ascertaining it. It would have 
been impossible for me, at the time, to have near 
the subject a controller to run to and fro, giving me 
information as the subject's state progressed. Also his 
presence with the subject would have caused the latter 
to suspect my intentions; and the one thing always to 
fear is that: "It is not you who willed him to sleep, 



THE PROVOCATIOISr OF SLEEP 177 

but he slept because he suspected you would make him 
do so." 

It is very well known, however, that Pierre Janet, 
who in this respect was better equipped than I, has 
succeeded perfectly in long distance experiments, at 
Havre. 

The series of these peculiar experiments would not 
be described completely if I omitted the following : 

G. P. not only was by profession a mechanical engi- 
neer, but he also gave lessons in bicycle riding. It 
thus happened that at this time he was giving lessons 
to a member of my family, and the three of us often 
used to ride together in the train from Paris to the 
Bois-de-Boulogne, where G. P. gave the lessons. 

During the journey, coming or going, and while the 
train was in motion, I often willed G. P. to fall asleep, 
although at times he was at that instant leaning against 
the window, looking out. I would then wake him after 
we had passed by several stations, two or three gen- 
erally. And as he never was conscious of having been 
comatically asleep, he could not understand how he had 
passed by all these stations without seeing them. 

In the presence of such facts, it cannot he said that 
the subject was under the anticipated influence of the 
sleep-idea : the idea that he was going to he experimenied 
upon. It is clear that these various comatic states were 
the result of mental action exerted from a distance, and 
unconsciously to him. 



CHAPTEE IX' 

Telepathy 



In former days, the word telepathy was used indis- 
criminately to designate the large family of psychic 
phenomena called second sights clairvoyance, diviim- 
tion, presentiments, mental suggestion, etc. To-day, as 
a result of the painstaking researches conducted in 
American, French, and English societies for psychical 
research, telepathy is clearly designated to specify "the 
action of transference of thought from one person to 
another by the exercise of the will." 

But the original meaning of the word was to perceive, 
to feel from afar, and therefore it included the general 
phenomena in which a human being perceived and felt 
at a distance the thoughts and will of another — events 
taking place in distant localities in the present, as well 
as events to happen in the future or having happened 
in the past. 

It was in realizing the inappropriateness of the early 
application of the word telepathy to designate the en- 
semble of these essentially different phenomena, that I 
proposed to apply the word telepsychism as a more fit- 

178 



TELEPATHY 179 

ting and appropriate term; telepathy being then rele- 
gated to its proper place as forming part of the individ- 
ual classification. 

So far as I understand it to-day, such cases are tele- 
pathic, in which Mr. A., for example, perceives spon- 
taneously that which happens to Mr. B. while they are 
separated by a more or less distant space. 

The following is a characteristic example of telepathy 
as recorded by a French author of the sixteenth cen- 
tury: 

^While the King stayed in Avignon, Charles, Car- 
dinal of Lorraine, died 23d December, 1574. The 
Queen Catherine de Medici had retired to bed earlier 
than usual, being assisted by two ladies of the Court 
who were witness to the event about to be described. 
When the Queen got into bed and was bidding ^good 
night' to them all, she suddenly uttered a scream, placed 
her hands to her face, and beckoned to her help those 
around her. With her finger she pointed; and there 
by the side of her bed, the figure of the Cardinal 
was standing with hand outstretched. She reiterated 
several times: ^Cardinal, what are you doing here? 
What are you doing here !' The King, startled, sent 
one of his gentlemen to the house of the Cardinal, and 
the messenger reported that the Cardinal had ^passed 
away' at precisely the moment the Queen screamed." 

The results of investigations into numerous cases, 
similar to the above are to be found in Phantasms of 
the Living, by Gurney, Myers, and Podmore, who pre- 



180 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

sided for many years over the destinies of the EnglisH 
Society for Psychical Research. In France, the An- 
nales des Sciences Psychiques, under the direction of 
Dr. Dariex, also has accumulated a considerable amount 
of valuable data. The main desire of those who gath- 
ered these testimonies has been the laudable one of 
establishing them on the basis of strict authenticity. 

From the mass of these authentic records one gains 
the impression — if not the conviction — ^that there seem 
to exist certain means of communication, inexplicable 
in the ordinary way, between individuals often situated 
at great distances from each other. 



II 

The circumstances in which the phenomena of tel- 
epathy are produced are most varied and different from 
one another. 

Thus, they may take place during sleep ; in this case 
it will affect the form of a dream. In another case, it 
may be more in the shape of a vision. Again, at times, 
the "seer" seems to be right on the spot where the scene, 
the event, takes place. At other times, on the contrary, 
the person — object of the vision — seems to appear in 
the "seer's" presence, in such a way that instead of 
a phantasm or an hallucination, he firmly believes it to 
be a real being. 

The degree of precision in the perception of these 
things also varies; for instance, as in the case of the 



TELEPATHY 181 

spontaneous irruption of an idea — the idea of a deceased 
parent, of whom one had no reason to think at the 
time; this being accomplished by certain physical or 
mental troubles, more or less characteristic. 

Evidently there must be a strong analogy between 
this kind of telepathy and what is termed 'presentiment. 

At other times, it may be a real happening, unex- 
pected and inexplicable in appearance, produced sud- 
denly, and often being the symbolic telepathic fore- 
runner of an accident, a death, or bad news. These 
happenings may take the form of queer sounds or noises, 
raps on the wall or in the furniture, the shattering of 
a mirror, the falling of a picture, etc., etc. 

More often it is the subjective appearance of a per- 
son, who comes and goes, without the utterance of a 
word, after having taken a good look at the "seer." In 
other cases, again, the apparition speaks, asks for help, 
utters complaints or gives warnings. In the most strik- 
ing of cases, the "seer'' has the impression of witnessing, 
from afar, the scene, the event. Cases are on record 
where the "seer" beheld the visions of things happening 
in the other half of the world. 



ni 

Such a statement of facts might raise in the mind of 
the listener a number of questions to which it is not 
easy to reply. 

First. The event may be related long after the oc- 



182 OUR HIDDEN EOECES 

currence. It may come from second or third hand, 
when the imagination has had plenty of time to embel- 
lish the plain facts. There exist, however, sufficient 
authentic cases to meet all the objections as to unreli- 
ability. 

Then comes the problem : Is there, truly, a rapport 
between cause and effect, between the telepathic vision 
and the objective occurrence ? Or is it but coincidence ? 

Let us, then, suppose that the telepathic vision be 
but an hallucination, which happens to coincide with 
the real occurrence. In this case it will be remembered 
proportionately to the degree of exactness to the real 
facts. But if it does not tally with the exactness of the 
facts, it will be dismissed from the memory record. 
In the face of such a contingency, is it then possible 
that there exist in humanity all sorts of hallucinations, 
among which there are found but a few actually coincid- 
ing with reality ? 

It was to meet these objections that the Society for 
Psychical Research conducted a series of investigations 
bearing on hallucinations in general. Their findings 
are summed up as follows: Cases showing a probable 
rapport between cause and effect: one in forty-three 
(1/43). Cases due to coincidence: one in nine thou- 
sand (1/9000). 

Second, Believing these to be true: What is the 
mechanism operating in the production of telepathic 
phenomena ? 

The answer to the query is framed in two hypotheses : 



TELEPATHY 183 

(1) Telepathy is allied to tlie phenomena of mental 
suggestion and distant action. (2) It is allied to the 
phenomena of lucidity and clairvoyance, so often ob- 
served by the ancient mesmerists. 

]^ow if we go back to our generic name of telepsy- 
chism to designate the ensemble of these phenomena, 
we will find an active telepsychism and a passive tele- 
psychism. In the former kind, the principal part be- 
longs to the operator, the one who projects his will or 
his thoughts, while the subject is, in this case, a mere 
receiver. In the second instance, the subject is the 
principal actor, playing the role of perceiver. It is he 
who perceives the event taking place at a distance. 
Although these two forms of telepsychism can be found 
separately, yet in many cases they exist in a state of 
complete fusion. 

Let us take, for instance, a hypnotic or magnetic 
subject who falls to sleep or wakes each time a mental 
order is sent him to do so, and who is able to guess, only 
then, the thoughts I am trying to communicate to him, 
but loses his ability to guess the moment I cease willing. 
Such an example would abundantly demonstrate the 
active telepsychic nature of the phenomenon. The same 
would apply to a subject who would be made to move 
his arms and legs, without the consciousness of these 
acts, by a series of mental efforts made by myself and 
known to myself only. And it is similarly to this that 
certain cases of telepsychism take place where an in- 
dividual, object of a telepathic perception, seems to 



184 OUR hidde:n" forces 

have exerted a positive action over those or him who 
perceived the event. 

It can he believed then, for instance, that certain 
people in the last moments of dying, concentrate the 
whole forces of their thoughts on the living ones dear 
to them. In spite of the distance, their intense mental 
concentration has produced a telepathic impression on 
the minds of the parents or friends dear to them. 

This telepsychic action, it may also be supposed, can 
be produced spontaneously, v^ithout the action of the 
conscious Will. 

This action not only may be effected in human be- 
ings, but also in material objects. For instance the 
picture, painting, photograph, mirror, etc., may, with- 
out apparent reason, fall or break under the very eyes of 
those present. There is, here, no hallucination, no 
telepathic vision! The picture falling is a real fact 
for all those who see it. Yet, it does so at the exact 
moment when the person is actually dying. •^ 

It is that at the moment of death, under the influence 
of the thoughts of the dying, a peculiar discharge of 
force, analogous to that of an electric condensator, tahes 
place, and being capable of covering tremendous dis- 
tances finally is arrested by a material object. 

* Translator's Note. — I witnessed with my own eyes, in the com- 
pany of several people, the smashing of a glass-framed picture, 
within a few seconds of the fall of a window-cleaner from a fifth 
floor window in a Club House, Piccadilly, London (April, 1914). 
The man naturally was killed instantly. — ^W. de K. 



TELEPATHY 185 

It is an action similar to the Hertzian waves and 
wireless telegraphy. 

On the other hand : Here is a magnetic or hypnotic 
subject in whose hands a glass of water or a crystal 
ball has been placed, and who sees — ^under the sugges- 
tions of the experimenter — certain events which actu- 
ally take place, at a distance and unknown to any of 
those present, operator as well as sitters. In such a 
case there can be no question of an action being exerted 
by the things or the people who figure in the vision. 
This would, indeed, be a pure case of passive or per- 
ceptive telepsychism. 

Does this faculty to see, to perceive at a distance, 
without the use of the five ordinary senses, exist in the 
latent state in a few privileged human beings? Or 
does it, perhaps, exist in every one of us ? In this case, 
can this faculty be exerted spontaneously? Or can it 
be artificially developed under certain conditions, as 
yet imperfectly understood ? ^ 

In the event of the existence of this faculty, it nat- 

' Translator's Note. — It has been my privilege to have conducted 
independently, as long ago as 1903, an extensive series of experi- 
ments with people of different races and nationalities. I have 
discovered^ without the shadow of a doubt, that most human 
beings possess a telepsychic faculty of some sort, in different 
degree of initial activity or intensity. Also, in many cases, owing 
to the lack of knowledge on the subject, the majority of people 
are thoroughly unconscious of their powers; or else, battered 
down through prejudice, they refuse to be awakened to their un- 
developed mental, parapsychic powers. It is but a question of 
methodical development. — ^W. de K. 



186 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

urally intervenes in the production of telepsychic phe- 
nomena; as in such cases as those in which distant 
occurrences, objects of the phenomena, are distinctly 
perceived. 

The combined effects of the two hypotheses — active 
and passive telepsychism — ^may be formulated in a 
mixed hypothesis : 

First. The will or the thoughts, conscious or un- 
conscious, of the dying, create an instantaneous tele- 
psychic action which travels through space, as if ori- 
ented in a given direction. This is the moment of 
active telepsychic action. 

Second, This action having reached, consciously or 
unconsciously, a determined object or individual, it 
awakes in his subconscious self the latent powers of 
the faculty which he possesses, to perceive and to repre- 
sent to his mind the things which occur at a distance, 
and to determine in him such and such an hallucination 
more or less true. This is then the moment of passive 
or perceptive telepsychism. 

The scientific attitude of mind asks, however, that, 
in the interests of science, too much importance should 
not be attached to the explanatory attempts made in 
the realm of such, as yet obscure if captivating, phe- 
nomena. 

It is, indeed, imperatively more urgent to gather all 
the newest observations, and to direct one's researches 
in the same order of facts to which such experimenta- 



TELEPATHT 187 

tion is applicable. This means that experiments and 
their results, bearing on mental suggestion and lucidity, 
should be submitted to conditions admitting of the most 
scientific control and analysis. 



CHAPTEE X 

The Relation of Telepathy to Human Magnetism 

The problem of "animal magnetism" may be com- 
pared to a country wbich is alternately lost and redis- 
covered every twenty or thirty years. And tbis will be 
its position until science sball bave decided to study 
it and exploit it definitively. 

Every new researcber venturing on tbis unknown 
land makes precisely tbe same discoveries made long 
before bim. Yet wbile doing so be may believe tbat 
be is tbe first to make tbem. Sbould be succeed in 
arousing public attention, be but incurs tbe derision of 
tbe so-called academical scientists. For some montbs 
or some years public attention may be sustained, but 
tbe time arrives wben tbe question sinks into utter 
oblivion. However, if we take into consideration botb 
derision and interest, we must agree tbat tbe question 
bas undoubtedly progressed since tbe days of Mesmer. 

In tbe first place, buman magnetism is presented in 
more precise and definite terms. Mesmer and bis suc- 
cessors indistinctly attributed to tbe unknown influence, 
radiated by tbe buman body, more or less under tbe 
direction of tbougbt, all tbe pbenomena of catalepsy, 

188 



HUMAN MAG:N'ETISM 189 

somnambulism, etc., whicli they produced. They ig- 
nored the existence of the two "little brothers" of mag- 
netism: Braidism or hypnotism, and suggestion. 

And as physicists, scientists, and medical men found 
that they could, by the use of spoken formulas or by 
the fixation of a brilliant object, produce to all appear- 
ances the same effects attributed to magnetism, the 
hasty conclusion was reached that no such thing as 
human magnetism existed. Prejudice against it has 
persisted until even the present time. 

But the truth really lies in the fact that, if we may 
use a phrase from Stuart-Mill, we are in the presence 
of "causal plurality"; or, as Durand (de Gros) wrote 
in a remarkable article,^ "these phenomena are polyetic/' 
They are susceptible to being produced, indifferently, 
by any one of several distinct causes. 

In our opinion, the recognition of the truth of this 
statement constitutes the indispensable condition of suc- 
cess in all the researches in this order of things. Who- 
ever starts with the preconceived idea that all the phe- 
nomena must proceed from one and the same cause will 
find it impossible to see the light. 

Mesmerists, also, should be thoroughly persuaded 
that the two other agents — ^hypnotism and suggestion — 
also exist, either or both being capable of producing 
exactly the same effects as human magnetism. Starting 
from this premise their labor will then be efficiently 

^ See * ' Les mysteres de la suggestion * ' in the Eevue de I 'hypno- 
tisms, 1896. 



190 OUR HIDDEI^ FOECES 

conducted. The question for them resolves itself in 
the following manner : 

1. Is it possible to produce most of the usual effects 
of hypnotism and suggestion solely by human-radiation 
and the will that directs it ? 

2. Is it possible to produce, by the application of 
this hypothetical agent, certain effects which hypnotism 
and suggestion are incapable of producing (admitting, 
of course, that these effects bear no relation to other 
causes) ? 

For my own part, I have always endeavored to pursue 
the solution of problem ^N^o. 1, as can easily be seen by 
the experiments described in another chapter. And if 
the problem has again been placed before us, in the 
present days, it is at least partly under the form of 
human magnetism. j 

It cannot be forgotten that official science — that 
which reigns in academies and universities — believed 
that it had dealt the death knell to the hypothesis of 
human magnetism with the words of Bernheim: "Sug- 
gestion is the key to all hypnotic phenomena." And by 
this he meant that the use of speech, or gestures, on the 
part of the operator implanted in the brain of the sub- 
ject an idea capable of being imposed upon his nervous 
system. 

But it so happens that there are certain subjects who 
actually obey the will or thoughts of the operator with- 
out word or gesture, sometimes doing so at considerable 
distances from him. The savants of Paris and ISTancy, 
therefore, began to ask themselves if it were not just 



HUMAIS^ MAG:^rETISM 191 

to admit a particular form of suggestion, to which the 
name mental suggestion should be given. 

English scientists go even a little farther in noting 
that this invisible communication between two brains 
can be spontaneous, as instanced in the many cases of 
telepathy. But what are these phenomena, if not a 
particular group of effects of human magnetism ? 

Both French and English scientists who are engaged 
in the study of these things do not as yet realize this. 
All they see in it is that they are extraordinary cases of 
suggestion, perhaps also hyperesthesia. They do not 
realize that the characterization of these phenomena 
resides in the possibility of the brain radiating from a 
distance, not only will and thoughts, but an influence 
capable of transmitting and reproducing will and 
thought, in the same manner as the electric currents 
sent along the wires reproduce, at the other end, the 
telegraphic messages received at one extremity. 

If the brain of the operator sends nothing to the 
brain of the subject, and if the intermediary space con- 
tains nothing to place these two in relation with each 
other, then the communication between these two con- 
sciousnesses is a superscientific phenomenon which men 
may forever renounce understanding and explaining. 

And when the members of these psychical research 
societies gravely oppose the hypothesis of effluence 
against that of thought transference — in other words, 
human magnetism against telepathy — we can but see 
in this an illusion produced by certain words on the 
best of minds. 



192 OUR HIDDEi^ FORCES 

For is it not evident that thought transference is hut 
a particular form of effluence: that isj a mental and 
cerebral effluence necessarily more complicated than the 
simple nervous or vital effluence? 

From my own point of view, I see a great many more 
inconveniences in approaching tlie problem from this 
side, than from that of human magnetism. 

The partisans of telepathy seem to believe that the 
power to influence at a distance belongs uniquely to the 
brain when considered in its functional unity as the 
organ of will and thought. Whether they are aware 
of it or not, it is to the psychical element that they 
attribute this peculiar property; they abstract, even 
exclude, the functional elements of the nervous system. 

Such a mental attitude toward the subject does not 
seem to me strictly scientific; for if this be the soul, 
which, as such, and independently from all mechanism, 
is capable of making its action felt at a distance, we 
may just as well say so. Of course we recognize that 
such a fact eludes every scientific (in the academical 
sense of the term) explanation ; nay, every experimental 
research. 

As Claude Bernard so aptly remarks : "Experimen- 
tation is alone possible where the phenomena are abso- 
lutely determined by their material conditions." 

If we look at it from the philosophical viewpoint, 
there is nothing in the nature of the soul which justifies 
such an action. From the fact that a certain "thought" 
is in me (for instance, a principle of reasoning), I con- 



HUMAIT MAGNETISM 193 

ceive, logically, tliat anotlier thouglit must necessarily 
follow — ^the conclusion of my reasoning out; it being 
understood that in this there is no intermediary space. 
But how could I explain that another thought, which is 
in my mind, should be reproduced in another mind, 
identical or not in nature, when both minds are sepa- 
rated by all sorts of intermediaries ? From the moment 
we are dealing with space, we make our exit from the 
immaterial sphere of consciousness to fall into the do- 
main of matter and motion. 

The mechanical explanation of the phenomena, their 
experimental determination, are then two philosophical 
conditions becoming at once possible and necessary. 

From the physiological point of view, however, this 
conception of telepathy does not carry conviction. 
There is no douht that the hrain plays a unique and im- 
portant role in the life of man: it is the organ of con- 
scious life, of the moral and intellectual life. If we 
may say so, its psychological functions rest on the basis 
of the physiological properties of the elements compos- 
ing it. Neither sensation nor will power could possibly 
be, if the nerve fibers did not inherently possess the 
faculty of conducting motion, and the nerve centers that 
of receiving while at the same time reflecting and trans- 
forming it. But these properties are not solely peculiar 
to the elements of brain constitution; they are common 
to all the elements of the nervous system ; they are the 
general properties of the neurons. 

Hence, if will and thought can be communicated from 



104 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

one brain to another, all analogies indicate in this phe- 
nomenon the particular outcome of some general prop- 
erty possessed by the brain or nerve cells, anterior in 
function to that of will and thought. 

In what, then, could such a property consist, if not 
in a kind of radiation or expansion of the nerve force, 
as the phenomena of heat, light, and electricity enable 
us easily to understand ? 

Therefore, to our mind, the first principle to study, 
so as to be able to prove the existence and the laws of 
the phenomenon, is this general property to act at a 
distance called animal magnetism, but which we believe 
is attributable to the nervous system. 

As in every science it is incumbent that a certain 
order should reign; for, so long as it has not been se- 
cured, students and searchers will only err on the path 
of probabilities. We do not wish to discourage any of 
them, but we fear that they have got hold of the question 
from the wrong end. 

Let us suppose that the savants of the world ignore 
everything about the existence and functions of elec- 
tricity. They may have heard that there exists a cer- 
tain instrument, through which a few spoken words can 
be instantly heard at the greatest of distances. They 
may be told that they, themselves, may speak to their 
distant friends, if they so wish ; they may converse and 
hear their replies. Will they believe? The natural 
attitude of most savants will be to smile and to shrug 
their shoulders. 



HUMAN MAG:N'ETISM 195 

A few, however, will hold an inquest. They will ask 
those who have seen it, probably spoken through it, to 
give them all the possible information, in order that 
they may find its secret workings. Then they collect 
numerous evidences sent to them from the many who 
spoke on the 'phone; they are given the details of the 
conversations but are unable to gather details of the 
secret mechanism of the instrument, because these have 
been ignored. 

Is it not therefore evident that from such procedure 
of investigation no one could possibly discover elec- 
tricity? In order to do so, one must start from the 
beginning; as, in the case of physical magnetism, ob- 
servation will reveal that "friction" develops in certain 
material substances the property to attract other light 
material bodies; and, where electricity is concerned, it 
is knovni that a piece of zinc or copper placed in contact 
with some acid solution will give off a very particular 
kind of force, etc. 

In the same way, when one day the phenomena of 
telepathy shall be scientifically understood, it will be 
due to the simple notation of the action which indi- 
viduals exert over one another from a distance.^ It 
cannot be achieved through the infinite collection of 
telepathic instances, more or less authentic, as is done 
by the various societies for psychical research. 

^We cannot too highly appreciate the courageous book written 
by M. Gasc-Desfosses, Le magnetisme vital. Paris, 2nd Ed., 1907. 



CHAPTEE XI 

Apparent Transposition of the Senses 

It is a strange fact that in some of the writings of 
the ancient mesmerists is to be found the mention of a 
peculiar phenomenon which they described as "trans- 
position of the senses" or "sense transference.'' They 
maintained that in certain cases of somnambulism, any 
of the five diiferent senses of man could be transposed, 
or transferred. Thus, the organs of touch could exert 
the same functions as those of sight or of hearing. The 
somnambulist could, therefore, hear through the pit of 
his stomach, or see through the tips of his fingers, etc. 

I have seen personally such a case in Paris. This 
was Madame V., who pretended to possess the faculty 
of reading with the tips of her fingers, instead of with 
her eyes, when in a state of somnambulism. How the 
experiments took place, I will now describe. 

Preferably, the somnambulistic state was induced 
through "gaze fixation.'' Court-plaster or gummed 
paper was then affixed on her eyelids, so as to seal the 
eyes. They were then bandaged with a thick cloth, 
tightly knotted at the back. When these preparations 
were over, the members of the audience were asked to 

196 



TKANSPOSITIOl^ OF THE SENSES 197 

send tlie somnambulist all kinds of written questions, 
tests, or printed papers they desired the subject should 
read. To begin with, she always asked for papers 
printed in large characters, such as newspaper headings. 
The subject would then place her fingers over the 
papers, or sometimes put these to her forehead or the 
pit of the stomach, when without hesitation she could 
easily read their contents. 

Sometimes, however, she declared that it was impos- 
sible for her to see anything whatever. She would then 
ask that she be awakened and put to sleep again. Al- 
most every time that a second trance was produced, the 
experiment was a complete success. 

When once the somnambulist had begun to read, it 
was sheer child's play for her to read anything that was 
written, however small and illegible the writing, even 
when purposely badly written to deceive. She could 
see and describe photographs. If a watch were placed 
in her hands she could tell the exact time ; in this par- 
ticular instance she would wrap up the watch in a hand- 
kerchief, because if she did not do so the metal of the 
watch would inflict a sensation, as of scalding. 

Usually, after fifteen minutes of experimentation she 
declared that her faculty became exhausted. She would 
then ask to be awakened. The bandage was therefore 
removed from her eyes, and it would be seen that the 
eyes had remained completely sealed. 

A friend. Dr. G. D., to whom I had shown these ex- 



198 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

periraents, became much interested and recognized the 
case as one of ^^hyperesthesia of touch." 

Although these experiments seemed thoroughly genu- 
ine, yet the apprehension remained that perhaps she 
might still use her eyesight in a manner that was un- 
known to me. With this idea in mind I decided to ex- 
periment with a brand-new subject never before hyp- 
notized or mesmerized by any one, and thoroughly ig- 
norant as to what he was intended to do. 

Circumstances particularly favored me by placing in 
my hands L. S., a young industrial draughtsman, 
twenty years old. From my first experiments, I found 
him remarkably sensitive. After testing him, without 
warning, by Dr. Moutin's diagnostic (dorsal attraction 
from the shoulder blades), it was an easy matter to 
produce, by pure suggestion, catalepsy or lethargy of 
the arms, legs, etc. When the eyes were closed for a 
few moments I perceived that he lost all consciousness 
of what happened to a^d around him. When I said: 
"Your eyes are closed; you cannot open them!'' or 
"Open your eyes now!'' his eyes did exactly as com- 
manded. Apparently he felt no fatigue whatever from 
the experiments. 

One day, as we were talking of the experiments of 
Madame V., I asked him if he would be willing to at- 
tempt to do the same thing. 

"And you think I could read with my eyes closed ?" 
said he. 



TEANSPOSITION or THE SENSES 199 

I replied that I did not know, but we could attempt 
the experiment nevertheless. 

The requisite mesmeric state was then induced ; and, 
taking a letter at random from the paper-rack, I told 
him to proceed as Madame V. did. 

As a result of the first command to feel the paper with 
the hands, to place it to the forehead or to the pit of the 
stomach, he replied : ^'It is impossible ; I feel nothing ; 
there must have been some trickery with Madame V." 

I then asked him not to become discouraged so easily ; 
for at the beginning it required a longer time to suc- 
ceed, etc. 

As he again pressed the paper in his fingers with deep 
attention, he suddenly exclaimed : ^'It seems as if Mon 
cher Camille were written here." 

It was not Mon cher Camille but Mon cher Emile 
which was wi'itten on the paper. Was this a coinci- 
dence? We shall now see. 

Remembering that Madame Y. preferred to start her 
experiments with large type characters, I placed a news- 
paper in the hands of L. S., saying: ''Read the title of 
this paper." 

He asked for the exact position of the title, so that 
he might put his fingers on it. Then, after a short 
while, allowing his fingers to run to and fro, he ex- 
claimed: "Is it not the Progres de Lyons f 

"Very well," I said ; "but this may be a pure coinci- 
dence, for this paper is extensively read. E^ow, here, 
take this other one." And I handed him another paper. 



200 OUE HIDDEI^ FOECES 

^^Is this not the Moniteur des Tirages Financiers f 

^^Right!" I exclaimed. "You now see that you can 
read with your eyes shut. There can be no doubt 
about it.'^ 

To my surprise L. S. protested. 

"]^o, sir; I do not read. I do not feel anything 
under my fingers, nor do I see anything before my eyes. 
But without my knowing how and why, it comes into 
my head, all at once, that it must be this or that, and 
I have to say so. I could easily believe that you are 
suggesting it mentally to me." 

A week later he came again. For the occasion I had 
prepared a great number of small pieces of paper upon 
which I had written many kinds of words and phrases, 
some in pencil, others in red, black, or violet ink. 

L. S. read all of these with remarkable ease. 

However, I noticed that although he read the words, 
he could not perceive the differences in colors. He 
could not say which was the red ink, or the hlach ink, 
or the violet. Also, he could not read what I had writ- 
ten with a dry pen, inkless; nor could he read what I 
had written with a pen dipped in water. On the other 
hand, he recognized perfectly the designs of certain 
objects which I previously had traced in ink. 

His impression that he was not reading, or seeing, 
persisted. He divined, as it were, through a kind of 
mental intuition. This latter expression seems to ren- 
der his thought more exactly. 

It was impossible for me, that day, to ascertain how 



TEANSPOSITIO^^ OF THE SENSES 201 

far I had influenced him by my thoughts or mind, in 
the production of the phenomenon. It was only during 
a third seance that I was enabled to do so. 

To this seance a great many persons were invited. I 
first acquainted them with the phenomenon of reading 
with the fingers. Some one questioned as to whether 
the subject read in my mind or with his own eyes ? My 
reply to this was that the subject himself thought he 
was reading my thoughts. 

I decided that this was a fit occasion to verify the 
hypothesis. I therefore begged of my questioner to 
write a phraae of her own composition on a slip of 
paper. The slip was then folded several times ; and of 
its contents I was completely ignorant. 

I then took the slip and gave it to L. S. He opened 
it, and, with eyes blindfolded, read the sentence with 
ease. There was, however, one slight mistake made over 
an initial letter. The same mistake, as a matter of 
fact, could easily have been made by any one reading 
with open eyes. 

A much more conclusive experiment was made during 
the same sitting. It proved irrefutably that the subject 
did read through his own powers and not as the effect 
of a transmission or of some foreign influence. To 
prove this, a member of the audience selected a book 
from an adjacent table, opened it at random, without 
looking at the page, and placed it in the hands of L. S. 
Without hesitancy, L. S. read the page where the book 
was opened. This time, no one in the audience had any 



ii 



202 OUE HIDDEN" FOUCES 

knowledge, beforehand, of the text he conld read with 
such fluency. 

The final conclusions, which I drew from the many 
months of experimentation, led me to ask the following 
questions : 

What is the range of action of this special sensitive- 
ness ? We have seen that it is not affected by color, nor 
by a simple form to which a sufficient quantity of mat- 
ter does not adhere. Yet we have seen also that the 
time on a watch could be read in spite of the glass ; that 
the photographs were just as easily deciphered, although 
it is possible that the chemical salts decompose under 
the action of light. Again the phenomenon remains 
quite incomprehensible inasmuch as the subject could 
read the time through the glass of the watch, though 
he was incapable of reading a paper covered by another 
paper- — although he might have succeeded in doing so 
with more time and patience. This series of experi- 
ments should be gone through again. 

What is the nature of this special sensitiveness, and 
where is its organic center? 

In the beginning we may remember that the subject 
described the phenomenon as being purely cerebral. 
He could not attribute it to the functions of sight or 
touch. But as time went on he modified his opinions. 
One day I asked him to put a glove on the right hand, 
and thus read blindfolded. After he had tried for over 
one minute he declared that it was impossible for him 
to do so. But I insisted. He again felt the writing 



TEAIS^SPOSITIOI^ OF THE SEI^SES 203 

on tlie paper with greater animation. In a very short 
while he read the text exactly. Then, spontaneously, 
he remarked: "You must be right, about the feeling 
with the finger-tips. I cannot explain what I feel at 
the end of my fingers, but I certainly feel something 
that must help me to divine the written or the printed 
lines, and pages." 

This impression that something existed at the finger- 
tips which helped divining, became more evident as ex- 
periments went on. And in a parallel way, the subject 
had gradually developed the consciousness of visual 
presentations, incorporated into his mental intuition. 
In other words, he gradually developed the power to 
see mentally what he was about to read. Perhaps if 
this evolution persisted the subject would develop the 
real illusion of reading mentally. 

Therefore it would seem that the essence of the phe- 
nomenon consisted in an extraordinary degree of hyper- 
esthesia (acute sensibility) of touch, or at least that 
this hyperesthesia is its primary condition. From this 
hypothesis, the phenomenon could be analyzed as fol- 
lows: 

(1) Owing to the extraordinary sensitiveness devel- 
oped in the hypnoidal state, the nerves of touch are im- 
pressed by the "relief" of the writing, the printing, or 
the photograph, and this in turn is transmitted to the 
subject's brain in a series of extraordinarily delicate 
and precise pictures or impressions. To these impres- 
sions respond some tactile sensations of which the sub- 



204 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

ject has no consciousness, but which are nevertheless 
real. 

(2) Now must be supposed that these tactile sensa- 
tions evoke a whole ensemble of visual representations, 
auditory, motor, etc., all corresponding to the letters of 
the alphabet, to their syllable combinations, words, 
phrases, etc. ; finally to the intellectual significance of 
all these things. The whole of this ensemble of sensa- 
tions would take place, as it were, in the subconscious- 
ness of the subject; the intellectual significance, only, 
being the natural resultant emerging from the conscious- 
ness proper. 

It can, then, be seen that a close analogy exists be- 
tween L. S. and the blind, who also read with their 
finger-tips. With one as with the other, tactile sensa- 
tions of ^^relief" (embossed characters, images) evoke 
verbal representations. But these purely fundamental 
analogies have some important differences: The blind 
has to learn how to read, necessitating much time and 
labor ; the subject L. S. has read from the first attempt, 
almost. The blind knows how he reads and how he 
acquired the faculty to read ; L. S. reads without know- 
ing how he does so. The blind man has to use a sort of 
writing in relief; L. S. reads everything devoid of any 
kind of relief. 

Many are those who will ask : "Can this hypothesis 
be verified ?" 

The answer is, "Certainly!" 

It is thanks to the experiments conducted by the late 



TEANSPOSITION OF THE SE:N"SES 205 

Colonel de Rochas, which led him to the discovery of 
the phenomenon of the exteriorization of the sensitive- 
ness (sensibility), that we are able to realize the funda- 
mental part played by "touch," in finger-tip reading. 
This is how Colonel de Eochas proceeded : 
The subject is in the comatic state, securely blind- 
folded and, most important of all, not previously told 
what is expected of him. A glass of water, three-quar- 
ters full, is placed on the palm of his left hand, held 
thoroughly outstretched. His right hand is now placed 
on top of the glass, and held thus. Several longitudinal 
passes are then made by the operator, along the right 
arm and hand of the subject, for a minute or two. At 
this stage and in order to test the sensitiveness to pain 
still lingering in the arm, the skin is pinched or lightly 
pricked with a pin. If certain signs of reaction are 
being shown, the passes should be continued imtil these 
are entirely absent. If at this moment the air zones 
surrounding the hand or arm are being pinched or 
pricked with a sharp twist, hrusMy, sl few centimeters 
above the skin surface, the liveliest reactions in the hand 
and arm will result. All these things naturally take 
place in perfect silence and in full light. 

The first time I experimented with L. S. for the pro- 
duction of this phenomenon, following the above condi- 
tions, the manifestations took place almost instantane- 
ously and very clearly.^ 

^ This phenomenon may be called ' ' Cutaneous endo-anesthesia 
■with tactile exo-hyperesthesia. " 



206 OUR HIDDEIsr FORCES 

In another instance, when the idea had come to my 
mind to verify if this second-sight were in reality allied 
to the sense of touch, I ventured on a new experiment. 

The hypothesis was that, if it were so, every modifica- 
tion brought to bear upon the sense of touch, would nat- 
urally react on this second sight : if touch-sensitiveness 
could be exteriorized, second-sight would also follow in 
the exteriorization. These senses would be active not 
only in the skin, as heretofore, but at a short distance 
from the skin. 

Was experience going to confirm my reasoning ? 

Having noted, at the beginning of the seance, that the 
subject had remained in possession of his faculty to 
read with the finger-tips as in ordinary conditions, I 
proceeded to exteriorize the sensitiveness, as in the 
former descriptions. Now, when I had ascertained that 
the right hand (that above the glass) had become in- 
sensible, and that the prickings and the pinchings were 
causing reactions with great liveliness, I then took a 
slip of paper, wrote a few words upon it, and held it a 
few centimeters from the fingers. At the same time I 
imparted a slow translational motion to the paper, so 
as to bring the strokes of the letters in a straight line 
projected from the fingers. Without a word of com- 
mand from me, the fingers then assumed the motion as 
of the forelegs of a spider ; and the subject read the text 
of the written lines perfectly. 

I have controlled and verified this phenomenon an 
infinite number of times, always with identical results. 



TEAI^SPOSITIOE^ OF THE SEJ^SES 207 

The other aspect of the question presented this prob- 
lem : 

Had the hand, when its sensitiveness was exterior- 
ized, lost the faculty to perceive the writing when in 
direct contact? 

And here again, experience confirmed reason. 

When the paper was being placed in direct contact 
with the skin, it was impossible for the subject to read 
anything whatsoever. He could read, however, as soon 
as the slip was being held a few inches from the skin. 

Several other experiments, conducted in complete 
darkness, in the attempt to prove that light had nothing 
to do with the results, revealed unquestionably that such 
was the case. 

Should we suppose, in attempting to explain the 
psycho-organic mechanism of these phenomena, a hyper- 
esthetic condition of touch determined by the hypnotic 
state, bringing to the brain certain sensations of great 
intensity to enable it to interpret them as verbal repre- 
sentations ? Or, on the contrary, should we suppose a 
cerebral hyperesthesia permitting the brain to isolate 
and intensify the impressions of touch, while at the 
same time using them as the means of reading ? 

If the second hypothesis be admitted, one must then 
suppose that L. S., or any other normal being, receives 
through the intermediary of the nerves of touch, while 
feeling, blindfolded, for the characters of a written or 
printed page, a photogTaph, etc., certain impressions as 
distinct as those which would be left upon the retina 



208 OUE HIDDEJST FORCES 

were lie to look at them. But owing to a lack of a par- 
ticular disposition of his brain, he is actually incapable 
of perceiving and also of interpreting them. 

Experimentation in this explanatory attempt shows 
that the second hypothesis is the right one ; although the 
inclination is toward the first. 

For this purpose I placed two chairs, back to back. 
The subject, being put in the comatic state and blind- 
folded, occupied one of these chairs; and I sat on the 
other, my back to his. Extending my elbow straight 
behind me, I asked L. S. to grasp it in his right hand. 
This done, I took the newspaper lying on the table, and 
slowly allowed my fingers to run to and fro upon the 
script. 

"Eead!" said I. 

And as I placed my finger upon each letter, L. S. 
would announce it. Thus he spelt ^^L'i-n-d-e-p-e-n- 
d-a-n-t — d-e-s — P-y-r-e-n-e-e-s — 0-r-i-e-n-t-a-l-e-s." 

"What are you reading there ?" I asked. 

"I do not know; I am paying no attention to the 
words," was the reply. 

"Begin again," I said. 

And this time he read the whole phrase as quickly as 
I passed my hand over the page. 

As I supposed that this strange phenomenon could 
be telepathy, pure and simple, I then closed my eyes, 
turned the page of th^ newspaper and fingered over the 
print. 

"ISTow, read again, please," I said. 



trai^spositio:n' of the sei^ses 209 

And he read: "E-a-u-x — M-i-n-e-r-a-l-e-s." This 
was correct. 

I directed my fingers to another comer of the page; 
when he read : "Y-o-i-t-n-r-e-s — ^A-u-t-o-m-o-b-i-l-e-s." 

I opened my eyes to find that this also was correct. 

And so on through scores of experiments. 

Let ns now analyze the consequences which this phe- 
nomenon implies. 

First of all: What happens in me, when, with my 
hack turned to the subject, who tightly holds my arm, I 
run my fingers over the printed pages? In a way, noth- 
ing more nor less than what happens normally. Yet it 
must be that the imperceptible relief of the printed char- 
acters makes a distinct impression on my tactile nerves, 
since this is the indispensable condition for the subject's 
fingers to read. Therefore, normally, apart from 
hyperesthetic conditions, the organ of touch must be 
impressed by the smallest differences which may be 
existing in different objects; but these impressions, not 
being sufiicient in quantity, are not perceived by the 
brain. Thus would be verified, once more, and in the 
most unexpected way, the celebrated theory of Leibnitz 
concerning "small insensible perceptions." 

In the second place: What happens in the organism 
of the siibject? In his case it is more difficult to an- 
swer; for our actual knowledge of physiology does not 
explain how his hand, in contact with my elbow, can 
receive through the clothes, the skin, the muscles, the 
nerves, vibrations which come through them from a 



210 ' OUR HIDDEJSr TORCES 

foreign organism. In this instance there would appear 
to be an action taking place similar to that found in an 
electrical contact. Perhaps, also, there are in the tactile 
nerves of the subject certain inducted currents which 
reproduce, by sympathy, the direct currents from an- 
other system. Be this as it may, the impressions ar- 
riving in my brain and becoming absorbed, as it were, 
without leaving any trace, alighting in the brain of the 
subject are immediately perceived, if but unconsciously. 

How interesting it would be if the details of the 
mechanism of the communication taking place between 
operator and subject could be studied, so as to deter- 
mine, for instance, the respective roles played by the 
different nerves of the hand, and of the arm: cubital, 
radial and median. 

We do not pretend to conclude from these observa- 
tions that the apparent transfer or transposition of the 
senses, as it was presented by the ancient mesmerists, 
does not exist. In this class of researches, one should 
beware of the danger of generalizing at first sight, espe- 
cially when one is dealing in negations. The phenom- 
ena which have been described here may be observed 
with other subjects as being the effect of thought trans- 
mission or mental suggestion. In other instances, and 
up to a certain point only, these results may be simu- 
lated. It is also possible that there are other means 
and mechanisms unknown or not analyzed which would 
be able to produce, in altogether different conditions, 
the same phenomena. 



TEA]S^SPOSITIO^ OF THE SENSES 211 



Smnming up our observations, we would say that the 
transposition of the senses is but apparent. It would 
really consist in a supranormal subconscious interpreta- 
tion of tactile sensations usually not perceived. 



CHAPTEE XII 

The Coloes of Human Magnetism 

Fortunately, for tlie benefit of knowledge, a certain 
number of thinkers remained convinced that Mesmer's 
hypothesis was but the presentiment of greater truths, 
and accordingly seized every opportunity to verify it by 
experimentation. And in this particular direction, no 
one has done more to advance the solution of this prob- 
lem than the late Colonel Albert de Rochas, whose per- 
sonal method of experimentation we will now consider. 
It consists in the utilization of the superior sensitive- 
ness with which certain individuals are endowed. 

The only objection raised to it is that experimenters 
are obliged to take the word of the sensitives, as to the 
impressions they receive. When a subject says that he 
perceives the color of the emanations to be red, or blue, 
the question usually arises: "Are these impressions 
really true, or have they been unconsciously suggested ? 
Or are they self suggested V^ 

But these difficulties are not insuperable, as demon- 
strated by Colonel de Eochas.-^ The following is a 

^ L*Exteriorisation de la sensibilite, A. de Rochas. (Paris: 
Chamuel.) 

212 



THE COLOES OF HUMAN MAGNETISM 213 

resume of his experiments dealing with the effluvia of 
magnets and electro-magnets: 

1. By means of an electro-magnet we produce, sup- 
press, or divert at will, and unconsciously to the subject, 
the poles of an ordinary magnet. Not only do the sub- 
ject's descriptions of the effluvia tally, as they proved to 
do in twenty-two experiments, but the subject is able 
to describe the current passing through after the op- 
erator thought it suppressed. 

2. The extremities of the fingers as well as the poles 
of a powerful magnet placed before the spectroscope 
reveal some very distinct colorations; taking the pre- 
caution to verify that the ocular position actually coin- 
cides with the description of each coloration perceived 
and is admitted solely into the corresponding field of 
luminous radiation. 

3. The common axis of the two magnet bars is placed 
opposite the poles of a large magnet, being careful to 
have a black background to the field. The subject then 
will perceive in the field of the spectroscope that it is 
colored red above the south pole, and blue above the 
north pole. If the polarizer or analyzer is turned round, 
the subject will without hesitation and very clearly 
describe certain variations of intensity pertaining to 
these lights. Also it will be ascertained that the posi- 
tions of the maxima and minima just described, cor- 
respond in fact to those resulting from the laws of 
polarization. If the apparatus is deviated in the direc- 
tion of the poles, the subject will then see nothing more. 



214 OUE HIDDEN TOECES 

All precautions were taken to eliminate any possi- 
bility of suggestion affecting the subject. The operator 
took care of his subject, while his assistant took care of 
the instrument and of the various operations (magnetic 
induction, refraction and polarization of light) ; the 
subject and the operator alike being kept in ignorance 
of the proceedings. 

The particular subject with whom the experiments 
were conducted possessed the valuable advantage of 
being able to draw and paint on the spot what he could 
see. 

In such conditions, the objectivity of the effluvia are 
not to be contested. It will be remarked that the ex- 
periments bore acoidentally upon the radiations of mag- 
nets and electrical currents, though but incidentally 
upon those of the hand; and in admitting that he ob- 
served the same strict controlling methods in the one as 
in the other, M. de Eochas' experiments can leave no 
doubt as to the fact that the hand emits effluvia, radia- 
tions, analogous to those emitted by magnets and elec- 
trical currents. 

This discovery constitutes a fact of enormous im- 
portance. 

Once thoroughly established, it will prove that the 
magnetic agent certainly exists in the human body, 
contrarily to the assertions of the hypnotists or sug- 
gestionists of ISTancy, Paris or elsewhere. From this 
standpoint, to conclude that this agent intervenes in 
the majority of the phenomena hitherto exclusively at- 



THE COLOES OF HUMAN MAGNETISM 215 

tributed to hypnotic or suggestive action, there is but 
one step. And this step, we believe, science, under the 
overwhehning evidence of the facts, will be bound to 
take. 



HOW THE PHENOMENON OF EXTERIORIZATION 
TAKES PLACE 

The phenomenon of the exteriorization of the sen- 
sitiveness opens an unlimited horizon to our supposi- 
tions and our researches. In our case, being limited by 
time and other necessary things, we have been obliged 
to confine these to a small number of tests. We spe- 
cialized in those which would determine the degree of 
generality of the phenomenon. 

Although M. de Eochas seems to have considered this 
as being produced exclusively among certain subjects 
and in a particular state, our observations have, on the 
contrary, helped to believe that it is a general pJie- 
nomenonj, common not only to all "sensitives," hut even 
to all individuals of the human species. 

It might further be said that it is a normal phe- 
nomenon ; but, like many other such, it is condemned to 
remain cryptoidal (hidden) so long as the conditions of 
its revelation — as understood in photography — are not 
realized. 

First experiment. Having once induced sleep into 
my subject L. S., securely blindfolded, I take in my 



216 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

own hands a glass of water three-quarters full ; my left 
hand receiving upon its palm the base of the glass, my 
right hand placed on top of the glass. I stand about two 
yards away from the comatic subject. 

Having held the glass thus for a period of from ^yb 
to ten minutes, I then draw closer to him and place in 
his hands the glass of water. The index and middle 
fingers of the subject's right hand are put into the water 
of the glass, remaining in this position for the duration 
of the experiment. 

This being done, I leave my subject alone and return 
to my seat close to the assistant, to whom I have given 
previous instructions concerning what he himseK has 
to do during the seance. (The subject is in complete 
ignorance of what has passed and is to pass. ) 

Every time that my assistant — without word or com- 
mand — pinches or pricks me or inflicts whatever pun- 
ishment on any part of my body, the subject L. S. 
reacts immediately to these pains, with visible energy. 
Everything, then, appears as if I had personally ex- 
teriorized my own. sensitiveness in the glass of water, 
and as if every sensation produced in my nervous sys- 
tem were carried, along an invisible wire fixed in the 
water of the glass, into the nervous system of the subject. 

Second experiment. The preliminary proceedings 
are the same as in the above. E'ow, instead of placing 
in the hands of the subject the glass of water in which 
I have exteriorized my own sensitiveness, I place it on 
a table by the side of one of the assistants. 



THE COLOES OF HUMAN MAGNETISM 217 

At this stage I approach, the subject and take him by 
the hand, in order to establish a contact between him 
and myself. Now each time that the assistant pinches, 
pricks, etc., the surface of the water, the subject reacts 
to these, in synchronic order and with an extreme vigor. 

Again, everything seems to happen as if the concus- 
sions imparted to the water in the glass were carried, 
along an invisible wire, into my nervous system (which 
remains unconscious of them) and thence into the nerv- 
ous system of the subject, wlio translates them into 
conscious impressions. 

The marked success of these two tests induced me to 
attempt a third one, which would then establish the 
possibility of artificially creating a communication of 
the sensibilities between the subject and myself. 

Third experiment. The subject is asleep, blind- 
folded; the audience is dumb. I place between the 
subject's hands the glass of water destined to receive 
the exteriorization of his nerve force, I take a second 
glass of water destined to receive my own nerve force. 
We both remain in the act of holding glasses until suffi- 
cient time has elapsed for L. S.'s sensitiveness to be 
exteriorized. Then I take his glass and place it beside 
my own on a nearby table. The table is three yards 
from the subject; the assistants and the operator also 
are three yards from both table and subject. 

I now take a U-shaped copper wire, covered with 
gutta-percha but revealing the bare metal at both ends. 
Two assistants, previously instructed without the 



218 OUR HIDDEN" EORCES 

knowledge of L. S., take hold of the wire, one at each 
end, and dip it into the water in the glasses. The 
wire thus plays the part of a conductor between the 
two glasses. 

This being done, I now retire to my seat, by the side 
of a third assistant, also previously instructed as to the 
part he has to play. Complete silence is maintained 
throughout. 

Every time that this neighbor pricks or pinches me, 
the subject reacts with great vigor, as if feeling the pain 
quite acutely. 

Thus it seems as if the concussions produced in my 
nervous system — which remains unconscious of them — 
are transmitted along an invisible wire into the glass 
in which my sensitiveness has been exteriorized ; thence 
it passes through the copper wire into the glass of the 
subject ; once more through an invisible wire, ultimately 
to merge into the nervous system of the subject. 

At one time, however, L. S. ceased to react, although 
the assistant had just been pulling my hair, with pain- 
ful results to myself. I imagined that this stop in the 
transmission of my sensations was caused by the disap- 
pearance of the influence from the glasses. On looking 
round toward the two glasses, I found that one of the 
assistants had removed his end of the wire from the 
glass of water. He had thus, quite unconsciously, insti- 
tuted the cross-correspondence test of my experiment. 
As soon as the wire was replaced in the water the trans- 
mission began again. The act of pulling my hair caused 



THE COLOES OF HUMA:N' MAGNETISM 219 

in my subject a very painful sensation, extending over 
the whole length of his body. He, poor man, grumbled 
and protested, visibly impatient to terminate the sitting. 

My neighbor, at this time, began less painful tests: 
taking my hands he stroked them softly. At once the 
face of L. S. lighted with a smile. "You can do this as 
long as you wish," he said. 

"Why ?" he was asked. 

"Because the sensation is a pleasant caress." 

Alternately, he felt the warm or cold, as the assistant 
by my side blew warm or cold air over the back of my 
hands. This he always felt in the shape of diffused im- 
pressions over the whole of his organism. 

The sensations of taste appeared to become trans- 
mitted in a slightly different way. 

As I sipped a few drops of Chartreuse, the subject, 
who imitated the act of swallowing, exclaimed : "What 
are you making me drink ? It is very strong ; it seems 
like brandy." 

In silence, I sipped some more Chartreuse. 

This was followed by a new act of deglutition, and 
L. S. ejaculated, "It is strong, but it is sweet. Is it 
not Malaga wine ?" 

Without reply, I took a few more drops ; and at once 
the subject exclaimed, "Please stop ! The stuff is going 
to my head !" 

Judging at this moment that the experiment had 
lasted quite long enough, I ordered that the glasses be 
disconnected. At once the subject got up, shouting. 



220 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

"Yes! Yes! Where is my glass?" and as he took a 
step in the supposed direction of the table he fell heavily 
to the floor. 

The assistants and myself, somewhat scared, hurried 
to get him up and into a chair. 

"What is happening ?" I asked him. 

"I am drunk," was the reply. 

At this stage I removed the mask appliance from his 
eyes, and woke him. Every trace of intoxication had 
disappeared on the waking, and no trace of tiredness 
whatever was shown. 

Thus ended one of the most typical seances for the 
experimentation of the exteriorization of the sensitive- 
ness. It would he most interesting indeed to take up 
these experiments again, varying the nature of the 
liquid contents of the glasses, as also the nature of the 
ambient conditions. 

In the course of the experiments conducted with this 
subject, several cases of thought-transmission were ob- 
served, and these should be entered along with the fore- 
going facts in the classification of telepsychical phe- 
nomena. 

I shall, here, give simply their description without 
attempting their explanation ; for, as yet, I cannot con- 
strue a sufficiently valid hypothesis which would submit 
these phenomena to regular scientific experimentation. 

Hitherto, we had not succeeded in obtaining similar 
phenomena with any other subject. It was during the 
course of other experiments conducted in connection 



THE COLOES OF HUMA]v[ MAGl^ETISM 221 

with "the apparent transposition of the senses" that we 
had had occasion to observe three or four cases of 
thought-transmission. 

1. The subject, asleep, eyes blindfolded, had a pic- 
ture-postcard bearing the photographic reproduction of 
a friend, to decipher between his fingers. As he ran 
over the script with his fingers, I asked him if he knew 
whose face it was. His reply came in the negative, as 
he did not know the person. 

^'Give me your hand," I said. "I am now thinking 
of the name of this person. Who is he ?" 
"Monsieur S. L." — which was correct. 

2. I placed now a photograph in the hands of the sub- 
ject, asking him to give its description. This also was 
done quite correctly : 

"It is a young lady. The photograph seems to be 
taken in a garden. I see behind her a wire netting, as 
one can see on the garden walls." 

"Do you know her Christian name ?" 

"ISTot at all." 

"Give me your hand, and I will tell it to you men- 
tally." 

"Jeanne," he said almost immediately. And that 
was correct. 

3. A large photograph was placed in his hands this 
time. After a few moments of manipulation, he said : 

"It is a group of three young children." 

"Do you know them ?" 

"E'o." 



222 OUK HIDDEN FOKCES 

"Be careful," I said. 

"Oh, yes! They are your children — ^but much 
younger." 

"Give me a description of them." 

"To the left, your eldest son; he is eight years old. 
To the right, your second son, six years old ; and in the 
middle, a little girl, four or five years old, unknown 
to me." 

"Why do you say it is a little girl ?" 

"Because the hair is long." 

"You are wrong there," I said. 

"Ah, yes!" 

"Where is he now ?" 

"He is dead." 

"What was his name ?" 

In asking him this question, I took his hand, and he 
Teplied: "Pierre." This was perfectly correct. 

4. The conditions of this test were of a more complex 
nature. As the subject had just been put into the sleep- 
ing state, Dr. D., whom I had summoned to examine 
my indisposed child, arrived. I notified the subject, 
therefore, that I must leave him for a while, and, pend- 
ing my return, I handed him a magazine, saying: 
"There is an article in this magazine which will interest 
you. Eead it." 

The consultation over, I asked Dr. D. if he would 
witness a curious experiment. On his agreeing, we 
entered my cabinet, where we found L. S. fingering the 
pages very attentively. 



THE COLOKS OF HUMA:N' MAGNETISM 223 

"Well, jou are finding the article interesting ? What 
is it all ahout V^ 

And the subject began to give me a concise account 
of it. 

I then asked him to read aloud the first lines of the 
article; which he obeyed docilely, to the amazement of 
Dr. D. 

On a sign which I made, the doctor spoke aloud, 
calling L. S.'s name. But, as if the subject were deaf, 
no reply came. From the symptoms he presented I 
judged that he was in the "rapport" state — a state in 
which a subject remains totally foreign to whatever hap- 
pens outside of the operator's movements and com- 
mands. 

On another sign from me, the doctor again spoke to 
the subject, without result. 

Then suddenly I touched the subject's shoulder while 
the doctor was in the act of speaking. The result was 
that L. S. was startled as if by a shock. He jumped in 
his seat, saying : "Who is there ? Who is speaking to 
me ? Are we, then, not all alone f 

"Do not be afr'aid," I answered. "It is my friend 
who has come back with me while you were not paying 
attention." 

"Ah ! Your friend has given me a fright, for once." 

"Do you know who he is ?" 

"I have not the faintest idea." 

"Take, now, my hand ; I will think of his name." 

"Is it not Mr. Bianchon?" (This was a disfigura- 



224 OUR HIDDEN^ FORCES 

tion of the name of a person whom L. S. had previously 
seen in my study.) 

^^]^o/' I said. ^^Don't you try to guess, now!" 

'^I do not get it well, but it seems as if I heard. Ort 
— Ort— Ort " 

"Listen well now ; I am going to think the name out, 
letter by letter." 

"It seems as if I were to hear Du — sort. Is this 
right?" 

"Yes, indeed ! It is Dr. Dussort." 

Such are the principal facts of thought-transmission 
which I observed with this particular subject. They are 
sufficient to demonstrate, together with the other tele- 
psychical phenomena described elsewhere, the radical 
insufficiency of the explanations for all the phenomena 
of the same order ojfered on the basis of suggestion pure 
and simple. 

At the same time, these point to the necessity for ad- 
mitting, in whatever degree or form, the existence of a 
force, similar in nature to physical radio-active forces, 
and playing the part of intermediary between the nerv- 
ous systems of human beings. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Strai^ge Phenomena 

"Blindness for the subject, and dumbness for the 
assistants/' 

This is the rule which we have endeavored strictly 
to apply, through all the tests conducted under my eyes 
during many years of active research. It should be 
rigorously imposed by the would-be future researcher, 
if he would give his experiments any value and have 
them recognized as such. 

Three principal types of experiments, constituting 
the main solution to the problem of human magnetism, 
will be described in the present chapter: 

1. The phenomenon of "magnetic rapport," so de- 
scribed by the mesmerists of bygone days. 

2. The exteriorization of the sensitiveness. 

3. Thought transmission. 

The phenomenon known as "magnetic rapport" con- 
sists in the particularity presented by certain subjects 
of being in sole and direct relation, during the state of 
hypnosis, with one individual only: the person who in- 
duced them into the state. In other word3, the subject 
presenting this peculiarity hears consciously the oper- 

225 



226 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

ator only; every other person present and around the 
subject at the time does not exist for the subject's 
consciousness. 

The first instance which the subject L. S. gave me of 
this phenomenon was when one of my assistants, speak- 
ing spontaneously to him, received no answer. 

"Why do you not reply to the question just asked 
you?" I said. 

"What question ? I have not heard any one else but 
you!" 

After that occurrence, I always, by means of signs, 
asked one or several of those present to say a word or 
two to the comatic L. S. ; but always the subject re- 
mained deaf to their questions. However, every time 
I came near the interlocutor while he was in the act 
of speaking, and placed my hand on any part of his 
body, whether the hand, shoulder, or back, the subject 
instantly turned round to where the voice came from, 
and answered. As soon as the contact ceased, he was 
deaf again. 

The point in question now arises : By what internal 
process does the subject become conscious of the precise 
moment when the contact takes place ? This is now a 
problem, the solution of which remains blank. 

Do not forget that the subject is blindfolded, that the 
operator and assistants are usually far distant, that the 
phenomenon is never always the same, and that it pre- 
sents itself with certain distinct variations. 

For instance, on rare occasions are found certain 



STEAISTGE PHENOMENA 227 

people who may enter directly into ^^contact'' with the 
subject, without previous contact with the operator; 
certain others, being once introduced, as it were, into 
"contact" by the operator, will remain so for the rest 
of the sitting, being able to converse with the subject 
without the mediatory influence of the operator. 

In a few cases, "contact" between subject and stran- 
ger is not even necessary, a certain proximity between 
the two being sufficient. It would thus seem as if there 
existed a sphere of influence of a more or less extensive 
radius. Every person outside the radius remains non- 
existent to the subject, but becomes more and more 
perceptible to him when drawing nearer the center. 
The following experiment demonstrates this assertion: 

J. D., a young woman, sitting near me, began to 
recite in a loud voice a piece of poetry which the subject 
listened to with attentive interest. As she recited she 
drew farther away, until finally, as the distance grew 
greater, he exclaimed, visibly impatient : "Why do you 
speak in such low tones ? Why do you whisper ? Why 
don't you articulate the words better?" And as J. D. 
drew nearer, the subject heard more distinctly. 

The same results would be obtained when J. D. and 
myself walked side by side to the other end of the room, 
sometimes close together, sometimes far apart. The 
clearness of the perceptions of the subject varied in 
direct proportion to the distance which separated J. D. 
and myself. 



228 OUR HIDDEIST FORCES 

As one easily can grasp, tlie phenomena just de- 
scribed present the possibility of measurement; and it 
is, as we know, through weighing and measuring that 
science shall master the different orders of natural 
phenomena. 



CHAPTEE XIY 

Exteriorization 
or dissociation of the motor nerve force 

From tlie general facts analyzed in the preceding 
chapter, the conclusion was reached that in the human 
hody there exists a force capable of radiating at a dis- 
tance ; it can even be dissociated from the human frame. 

This phenomenon we called the "exteriorization of 
the sensitiveness." We called it so because the force 
which was being projected at a distance was the very 
same as that which is the vehicle of the sensitiveness in 
the nervous system — the part played by it being to 
carry to the brain centers all impressions received from 
the periphery (skin) of the organism. 

Carrying his experiments further, but following an- 
other direction, Colonel de Rochas proposed to prove 
that the motor nerve force also could be dissociated, or 
projected, at a distance, and could be made to produce 
certain movements, displacements, or levitation of ob- 
jects. We know, of course, that the motor force or 
energy is that which transmits through the nervous 
system all movements and impulses from the brain 
centers to the periphery. In essence, it is no doubt 
identical to "sensitiveness." 

229 



230 OUE HIDDEIST FORCES 

In his book/ M. de E<Dclias defines this phenomenon 
as the ^^displacement of objects without personal con- 
tact, by means of a force emanating from the organism 
of certain individuals." The experimental proofs of 
this are divided into two groups : First, reports of all 
his experiences conducted with the subject E. P. ; sec- 
ond, reports of all previous experiments and observa- 
tions, collected from the Dialectic Society of London, 
1869 ; Count Gasparin, 1854; Sir William Crookes and 
his experiments with Slade; those of MaclSTab; Pelle- 
tier; Dr. Paul Joire; also cases of "electrical women" 
and cases of "haunted houses," where the same force 
appears to be manifested. 

The two descriptions given here are considered 
typical : 

1. The subject E. P., whose hands and feet are held 
tightly by an assistant, announces that she will proceed 
"to draw the key from the cupboard door" placed high 
lip and at an appreciable distance, where she cannot 
possibly reach it. The controlling assistant, Mr. de W., 
stands between the subject and the door with the key. 
There is enough light to see what takes place. Sud- 
denly a screeching noise is heard in the locl^; the key 
turns but as yet does not fall off. E. P. then takes with 
one hand the left wrist of her neighbor, Mr. S., and 
with her other fi.ngers she seizes his index finger. 
Around this finger she makes certain rotary motions, 

^ L'Exteriorisation de la motricite, A. de Bochas. (Paris: 
Chamerot.) 



dissociatio:n^ of nerve eorce 231 

alternating synclironically with the motions of the key 
in the key-hole, girating in one direction one moment 
and in another the next. 

A few minutes afterwards E. P. seizes the hand of 
Mr. S., holding it with her two hands and drawing it 
to and fro, in a motion indicating that of opening the 
door situated three feet distant and behind Mr. de W. 
At this moment a succession of noises are heard pro- 
ceeding from the door as if efforts were vainly being 
made to throw it open. At the suggestion of Mr. de W. 
to disentangle the key from the lock, which the efforts 
of the subject's will were unable to do, the assistants 
agree unanimously and the key is made to unlock the 
door. 

A new hand motion from the subject causes the door 
to open. !Now, with feet still being held in check, E. P. 
places her hands on each cheek of her neighbor, and 
alternately smacks one cheek and then the other — a 
smack on the left cheek opens the door, another on the 
right closes it. 

The hands are seen and felt; and the movements of 
the door are seen and heard, for as it is being flung open 
it comes butting on to the chair of Mr. de W., who now 
sits directly in front of the cupboard. The rapidity of 
the opening and shutting of the door are proportionate 
to the rapidity of the given smacks. Having done this 
several minutes, E. P. then gives a push to Mr. S.'s 
head in the direction of the cupboard and the door is 
flung back, shutting itself with a loud bang. 



2S2 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

2. This is anotlier very descriptive illustration of a 
phenomenon observed, nnder very satisfactory condi- 
tions, in the presence of Col. de Rochas, Dr. Dariex, 
Sabatier, de Grammont, and de Watteville. 

In the middle of the room is a large and heavy table. 
The light is on full. The subject E. P. is in the normal 
state. 

Mr. de G. asks the subject if, through the imposition 
of the hands from a distance, she is capable of acting, 
while in the normal state and in the broad light, upon a 
letter-scale which he has in his traveling-bag. The 
reply being indifferent, the members present decide 
unanimously to carry on the experiment, there and then. 

The scale is brought and placed on the table in such 
a position that every one may witness the indications 
of the rotating needle. The degrees on the scale are 
from 0.00 to 50 grammes. 

The subject, standing a short distance away from the 
instrument, vainly attempts to inflict a motion upon the 
scale by presenting one of her hands to within a few 
centimeters of it. Then, bringing her fingers together 
to a focus, she places her hands thus, one on each side 
of the scale-tray, and concentrates her will, the hands 
being held to within at least 4 centimeters of the instru- 
ment. There is no contact whatsoever. 

At first there is no sign of motion. E. P. then, with 
a slight wave of the hand in the air, as if making ^'a 
pass" upon the invisible "double" of the scale, finally 
succeeds in imparting a very slight motion to the needle. 



dissociatio:n' of nekve foece 233 

In a few seconds, this is followed by the movement of 
the needle to its maximum extension upon the graded 
dial. 

Every controller present agreed that the conditions 
of the experiment were perfectly free from possible 
fraud. The table was not made to move, nor was the 
scale in contact with anything. 

This experiment was repeated, for the benefit of a 
new-comer. The same results attended. In every in- 
stance the needle was brought so far as to point to its 
maximum of action. 

The results are always obtained under the most exact- 
ing conditions. Sometimes the rigidity of the con- 
trolling tests are such as to exhaust the imagination of 
the most inveterate of skeptics. 



CHAPTER XV 

The Scientific Study of Spiritism 

Can spiritistic phenomena-production be studied 
scientifically ? That is the question. 

First, it is advisable to establish the precise sense of 
the various terms which we shall employ during this 
examination. 

The word "spiritism," in ordinary language, has 
various applications. In some cases it is used to indi- 
cate the existence of certain facts ; in others, to indicate 
a proposed doctrine, an hypothesis, a theory or system 
to serve as an explanation of these facts. 

In the first instance, spiritism would imply the com- 
prehension of all facts apparently "objective," and 
where, seemingly, is manifest the intervention of in- 
telligent beings usually "invisible" and which normally 
do not belong to our world. That such manifestations 
are being enacted every day, that they can be observed, 
described, classified, etc., is a point which cannot be 
contested. The question is, then : To what extent does 
this particular appearance correspond to reality — and 
to what reality? 

As the phenomena produced are invariably with the 

234 



SCIE:^TiriC STUDY OF SPIRITISM 235 



presence of certain particular individuals called 
"mediums/' it has been proposed that they be called 
"mediumistic," "medianimic/' or "medianic." 

These phenomena present numerous points of analogy 
with other facts, which do not present the above appear- 
ance, and which are often produced in combination with 
them. They are the cases of suggestion, auto-suggestion, 
hypnotism, dissociation of the personality,^ animal mag- 
netism, thought-divination, thought-transmission, telep- 
athy, exteriorization of the motor and sensitive nerve 
forces, etc., etc. 

There are many people who, having little knowledge 
of the study, wrongly include under the denomination 
spiritism all the above-described phenomena. Spiritistic 
phenomena and those of hypnotic, animal magnetic, or 
suggestive source, form two distinct orders of phe- 
nomena. It is true, however, that a knowledge of the 
latter is indispensable, if one would progress toward the 
full understanding of the former; although reciprocity 
is not necessary. 

These are the spiritoidal facts which the scientist en- 
gaged in their study has to gather under the best condi- 
tions of exactness and authenticity, either through ob- 
servation or through personal experimentation. Again, 
he may collect these facts from the serious attestations 
of reliable witnesses. This being done, his next duty 

* Astral projection, or dissociation {dedoublement, exteriorisa- 
tion de la personalite, projection de I' astral). 



236 OUR HIDDE]^ FOECES 

lies in their classification, comparison, and analysis, 
if he would discover the laws that govern them. 

Unfortunately, the attitude of the general public 
(and, it is to be deplored, that of many scientists) is 
not one of resignation to the expectant attitude which 
such point of view imposes. The public wants, before 
all, an explanation of the phenomena. Is it really the 
work of spirits? Are these spirits really the souls of 
the dead ones? Or are they demons? Or elementals? 
These are the questions constantly asked, and which 
have to be elucidated. 

Admitting that the question might be answered in the 
"subjective" sense, there would still remain two kinds 
of spiritism: (1) Spiritism as a hypothesis, scientific 
or experimental; and (2) spiritism as a philosophic or 
religious doctrine, which, having once been apparently 
proved by these facts, would give to mankind a sys- 
tematic solution for all its social, moral and metaphysi- 
cal problems. It would seem advisable, therefore, to 
use the word spiritist to designate those who profess 
this latter attitude; such a name being thoroughly in- 
applicable to those who, admitting the reality of spir- 
itoidal phenomena, have decided to study them experi- 
mentally in the same manner as they would astronomi- 
cal, chemical or biological phenomena. 

The physician-scientist does not waste his time in 
discussing whether it is God or matter, or any other 
supra-phenomenal cause, which produces the phenomena 
of heat, light, electricity, etc.; rather are his energies 



SCIE:N"TiriC STUDY OF SPIEITISM 237 

directed to the discovery of the laws which produce 
them. Similarly the biologist considers that it is not 
incumbent to his sphere of study to seek which is the 
'^intimate nature of life" in its relation to matter, soul, 
or God. His business is to determine the conditions in 
which these vital manifestations take place. 

And the same attitude of mind should animate the 
scientist who would study these spiritoidal phenomena ; 
he should discard those eternal and sterile discussions 
relating to the speculative existence of "spirits" as in- 
stigators of the phenomena produced. His efforts 
should be directed to the discovery of their unknown 
causes, regardless of the supposition that these may be 
spirits, departed souls, demons, elementals, etc. 

'No doubt, the fact of knowing that an invisible world 
exists around us, distinct from our own world, yet very, 
very close to us ; a world peopled with intelligent beings 
who could, in certain cases, enter into communication 
with ourselves, and among whom could be recognized 
our lost parents and friends, would be extremely inter- 
esting. But we cannot lay too great an emphasis upon 
the assertion that, even assuming that such a knowledge 
were a fact, it would leave intact the scientific aspect of 
the problem of spiritism. 

Believers as well as disbelievers in the subjective 
form of spiritism remain but stuck by the metaphysic 
wayside of psychism. It is high time that the positive 
side of the question be taken up. 

Must we believe in spirits, or must we not ? 



238 OUR HIDDEIsr FORCES 

This is the everlasting topic of discussion. Those 
who believe accumulate a mass of "stories" ; and those 
who do not believe reply — by a mass of stories, too. 
And so the situation is likely to continue. What really 
happens is this: each obeys impulses of an extra-scien- 
tific, religious, or anti-religious order; it is a satisfac- 
tion of one's faith which is sought after. 

The spiritists seek to prove the immortality of the 
soul, and life in the Great Beyond, when it is not a 
question of reincarnation or soul progress through the 
stars. They accept the most palpably tricked revela- 
tions, and when willing to submit to controlling tests, 
it is with 'parti pris attitude, bent on hindering the 
measures taken which alone constitute effectiveness of 
control. 

The anti-spiritists, who profess the doctrines of "ma- 
terialism" and "metaphysical atheism," imagine that if 
it were proved that something remained after the death 
of man, their doctrines would be dissipated. In the 
triumph of spiritism they seem to feel the retrogres- 
sion of science, the return of the ancient superstitions ; 
and therefore they struggle with all their might against 
such threatening disaster. Hence their refusal seri- 
ously to consider the so-called spiritistic facts. In their 
own minds they say : At first sight these facts are im- 
possible, unreal ; therefore they are false. Such a men- 
tal attitude is naturally deplorable. After all, their 
mental state is about the same as that of the savants 
who would refute the admirable experiments of Pas- 



SCIEIST^IFIC STUDY OF SPIRITISM 239 

teur, arguing that while contradicting the doctrine of 
"spontaneous generation," these experiments may place 
dangerous weapons in the hands of the partisans of "the 
supra-natural origin of life.'' Likewise, it is the atti- 
tude of the theologian who defiantly looks upon the 
researches of the historian and geologist as being dan- 
gerous to the longevity of Biblical stories and doctrine. 

The objection may be raised that it is impossible to 
proceed with the methodical study of these facts with- 
out being either for or against the doctrine of spiritism. 
Our reply to this is that such an objection always pro- 
ceeds from the same erroneous conception which many 
entertain as to the part played by "doctrines" in experi- 
mental scientific research. Strictly speaking, "doc- 
trines" are non-existent in this order of research. True, 
there are "hypotheses"; but these are of temporary 
admission only. They merely help to adjust one's 
orientation in the labyrinth of facts, and permit one to 
progress in the direction of fertile discoveries and use- 
ful applications. It is in this sense, only, that the scien- 
tist can use the hypothesis of "spirits," in parallel with 
all other hypotheses, so long as the observation of such 
facts warrants it, yet without ever attributing to it any 
definite and absolute value. 

Contrarily to the phenomena produced by sugges- 
tion, hypnotism, and animal magnetism, the spiritoidal 
phenomena cannot be said to be obtained at will, 
through experimentation. The term experiment is in 
such case thoroughly inappropriate. 



240 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

In Lis Psychic Phenomena, Maxwell says: "The 
curious character of psychic phenomena is their com- 
plete independence. Experiments lead and guide us; 
we do not conduct them. One is often under the im- 
pression that these experiments obey a will foreign to 
that of the experimenters." 

Maxwell also warns the would-be seeker against the 
supposition that psychic phenomena can be observed at 
will. He states further : "A sure fact about these para- 
normal phenomena is their apparent irregularity. I 
have experimented with many medical scientists and 
others, anxious for an exact solution; several experi- 
ments were conducted, and I have observed that many 
weeks would often elapse without our obtaining any 
good result. At other times the force was so strong 
and plentiful that results were obtained quite spon- 
taneously and unexpectedly." 

The whole history of science in the past half -century 
has proved that the "impossible" can and does happen, 
in justification, as it were, of the utterance of Arago: 
"He who pronounces the word impossible outside of 
the realm of pure mathematics is lacking in prudence." 

Ignoring this warning, physiologists declare impos- 
sible the existence of beings capable of feeling, seeing, 
yet having no nervous system, no material cerebral sys- 
tem : in a word, not being in possession of an organism 
such as the living. 

True, such an existence of beings appears most un- 
real, when we reason in the light of our material ex- 



SCIElN^TiriC STUDY OF SPIRITISM 241 

perience ; but, may I ask, in wliat manner can we be jus- 
tified in asserting dogmatically that sucb is impossible? 
However wide our knowledge and experience may be, 
these but cover an infinitely small part of the Truth. 
We are not, therefore, in the possession of infallible 
means to detect, a priori, what is or is not possible. 

If spiritistic facts exist, it is then our bounden duty 
to submit these to the most rigid control or tests, and to 
exact from them all the guarantees of authenticity and 
precision, ^o one has the right to reject such facts, 
with a waving of the hand and without examination, 
under the pretense that they do not exist. 

With perfect justice has it been declared that the 
duty of science is to adapt itself to facts and not facts 
to science. 

I remember full well the short-sighted remarks of 
a well-known physiologist, who wrote in an article: 
"The phenomenon of thought-transmission is impos- 
sible, for this would necessitate the existence of a mate- 
rial link between the two brains, exactly as a metallic 
wire is necessary to establish a communication between 
two stations." !N"aturally, this "savant'' had not the 
sense to foresee the advent of wireless telegraphy. 

The study of life itself, in the organism, seems even 
to point to a psychic action, entirely independent of 
the action of brain and nerves, if not of all material 
substratum. Do not the similar vital functions in all 
other animal branches of creation — ^breathing, circula- 
tion, nutrition — take place through vastly different sys- 



242 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

terns of apparatus belonging to extremely varied types ? 
Are there not, also, indications of sensitiveness and in- 
stinctive activity in certain plants, perhaps in all, in 
spite of the complete absence of a nervous system? 

The "spirit" hypothesis, as it is usually formulated 
by spiritualists, in no way excludes the possibility of 
a material substratum for the manifestations of a psy- 
chological order, of which these spirits are the supposed 
authors. This hypothesis, in spite of all contrary ap- 
pearances and prejudices, may be sustained by the 
metaphysics of materialism just as easily as by the 
metaphysics of spiritism, if it be true that the "spirit" 
possesses a subtle body which is very nearly a duplicate 
of the physical body. This ethereal body, astral or 
fluidic, subjects, just as the material body does, the psy- 
chological life of the spirit to the material conditions of 
life; although this appears inconceivable to our senses. 

Although still controverted, certain facts are too 
numerous and too rigidly observed to be ignored indefi- 
nitely, or to be rejected at first sight as being worthless ; 
they would seem to indicate that our own mental ac- 
tivity (since we are incarnated spirits) depends upon 
this order of invisible material conditions. Such facts 
as telepathy, mental suggestion, thought-transmission, 
exteriorization of the motor and sensitive nerve forces, 
indicate the existence of a determinism of the psychic 
functions more delicate and more profound than that 
which has its seat in the brain and nervous system. 

Before the discoveries of Pasteur, no one suspected 



SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SPIPJTISM 243 

the existence of microbes, nor the important part played 
by them in the phenomena of life. The atmospheric 
gases, argon, crypton, neon, etc., Hertzian waves. Roent- 
gen rays, radium, etc., etc., are so many unexpected 
revelations which have come to remind the savant of 
the fallacious popular utterance regarding nature's 
secrets : "If these things exist, everybody would know 
about them." 

As we advance in the domain of scientific discoveries, 
the existence of cryptoidal phenomena (those which 
nature has systematically abstracted from our means of 
investigation) becomes all the more evident, thus clearly 
revealing the imperative necessity of adopting a con- 
ciliatory attitude of perception toward their apparent 
reality. 

There was in the history of our planet a very long 
period during which life was non-existent; then it ap- 
peared. How did it take place? No one knows. In- 
deed this is true ; for no one as yet has ever been capable 
of observing or provoking life, without recourse to life 
itself. The old adage, omne vivum ex vive, remains 
incontrovertible. 

All hypotheses entertained as to the transformation 
of species are but childlike utterances. We may ob- 
serve the infinite variations of life; but the sources of 
life itself remain still buried in ignorance. Hence we 
cannot, without sinning against the veritable scientific 
attitude of mind, reject without due consideration all 



244 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

the facts which are not as yet catalogued in the pigeon- 
holes of our theories. 

From all the races and peoples of the earth, and of 
all times, there have been handed down to us, historical 
or other stories, so-called miraculous or supernatural, 
exhibiting symptoms analogous to spiritoidal phe- 
nomena.^ The proper course is, not to admit them as 
authentic and real, nor to reject them as apocryphal 
or imaginary, but to submit these stories to the strict- 
est and most rigorous of criticisms while suspending 
definite judgment in regard to their nature. 

If "spirits'' truly exist, it may be quite possible that 
they entertain some very definite and constant rela- 
tions with our world; and that the aberrant nature of 
their interventions may be but accidentally apparent. 
It would be as if it were an optical illusion due to the 
insufficiency of our means of information. And, this 
being the case, it would then be truer to say that they 
also enter into the general scheme of nature, and that 
they do not really constitute a world apart or separated 
from our own; no more so than are the comets and 
meteorites foreign or outside of the planetary and side- 
real universe to which we belong. 

Is the so-called contradiction which is supposed to 
exist between the '^spirit'' hypothesis and the principles 
of science so irreducible as all that? 

1^0 doubt, this hypothesis obliges us to admit that if 
the spirits intervene in the production of such and such 

' The story of Joan of Are, for instance, among many others. 



SCIEI^TIFIC STUDY OF SPIEITISM 245 

phenomena, certain inexplicable perturbations due to 
the laws regulating tbeir production may then be the 
result. But, may we ask, what has this to do with the 
spirits ? 

Is this not the same as the intercurrent causes, known 
or unknown, always susceptible to enter into conflict 
with the proper causes of any other phenomenon? A 
law of nature can never be stated in absolute terms. A 
law is stated in affirmation of the fact that the produc- 
tion of a phenomenon is due to the presence of certain 
definite causes; but always under the expressed condi- 
tion that contrary causes are supposedly absent. 

Stuart-Mill has already stated that the enunciation of 
a law is the formula of a tendency, rather than that of 
a result. Thus, bodies tend to fall through space under 
the law of attraction; but they only do so providing 
that their action is not counteracted by another law 
contrary or antagonistic to the former. Heat expands 
material bodies, unless they are submitted to the action 
of a contrary law. And so it is with every other stated 
physical law. 

Regarding "spirits," it will be seen that, once and 
for all, if they would evade the possibility of contradic- 
tion, their presence must be placed among the number 
of counteracting causes. It may be remarked also that 
the counteracting causes are known at least always to 
act in a particular direction and regularly, according 
to laws just as constant as in the former, from which 
they do not differ in nature ; whereas the so-called spirits 



246 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

would be causes of unknown origin and essence, char- 
acterized by a most capricious and anarchistic action. 

Yet, it is on the same plan as that of our voluntary 
and intelligent activity that the spirits are conceived; 
we find, it should be recognized, an evidence of such 
causes in ourselves. Should we even go so far as to 
say that the possible intervention of human beings in 
the production of natural phenomena (with whatever 
disorder and fantasy such intervention entails) is incom- 
patible with the laws of nature, and thereby ruins the 
very foundations of science ? 

Let us imagine the impossible: a savant who lived 
prior to the appearance of human beings upon the 
earth; unconscious of humanity, yet firmly attached 
to the scientific principle of universal determinism. 
This savant, if he were to conceive the hypothesis of 
the future existence of human beings, would he not 
declare this impossible, a priori, as entailing the intro- 
duction into his world of a permanent cause of obstruc- 
tion to the existing laws of nature ? 

It is that in reality, man, in spite of the arbitrary 
appearance of his actions, obeys, as everything else does, 
a set of definite laws. Whatever solution is given to 
the metaphysical problem of free will, it must be con- 
fessed, after all, that our freedom or liberty, real or 
false, is co-existent with universal determinism or cos- 
mic determinism. 

Therefore, that which is true for man is also true for 
^^spirits'' conceived after the manner of man. If they 



SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF SPIEITISM 247 



intervene in the production of natural phenomena, there 
must also exist certain laws which serve to regulate this 
intervention. These laws may in many cases he ignored 
by us, but we have every interest in knowing them ; for 
this knowledge would place us in the position of influ- 
encing natural phenomena, and thereby reproducing 
their most astounding feats. 

In conclusion, it would appear from this discussion 
that the spiritistic hypothesis, however handicapped it 
may be on account of its apparent unreality, should be 
given a chance in the field of observation and scientific 
experimentation. 

Science has the right to exact from any hypothesis 
that it should present its proofs; and, equally, science 
cannot refuse it a hearing. 



CHAPTER XVI 
Human Radiations 

Can the human being exert, beyond the visible limits 
of his own organism, a radiating influence more or less 
comparable to that of the source of heat, light, or elec- 
tricity ? 

We already know how the Mesmeric theories were re- 
ceived by the academical pedants of the time, and how 
it was that many thought the discovery of hypnotism, 
and later of suggestion, would forever dispel the hypoth- 
esis of human radiations. But in spite of the disinte- 
grating influence of time, this hypothesis has survived, 
being every now and then resurrected under various 
forms, when allied to the phenomena of mental sugges- 
tion and telepathy. More recently still, with the dis- 
covery of the "N" rays of Blondlot and Charpentier, the 
question received an impetus, although, it is true, con- 
tested by the majority of physicians and physiologists. 

The great difficulty to be met with, when attempting 
to establish its existence, is the intervention of ^^sugges- 
tion" during the process of experimentation. This diffi- 
culty can be eliminated by the adoption of the method 
outlined in a former chapter. Operating under these 

248 



HUMAI^r EADIATIOISTS 249 

given conditions, the following conclusions are reached. 
Of course it must he understood that these conclusions 
are given here purely as hypotheses, in the hope that 
they may lead to new experiments, which hy them may 
he rendered more complete and more precise. 

In the first instance, it will he observed that certain 
individuals emanate, principally through the hand, an 
influence seemingly capable of radiating from a dis- 
tance; and when directed upon the nervous system of a 
subject it causes (often unconsciously to him) the vari- 
ous effects of anesthesia, muscular contractions, involun- 
tary movements, etc. When this action is brought to 
bear upon the brain, it causes a state of numbness which 
develops into sleep. 

One would be tempted to suppose that such a radiat- 
ing influence may be common to all beings ; but such is 
not the case. [N'umerous experiments have proved that 
among certain people this influence is so insignificant 
as to be considered almost nil ; and from this view-point 
the bulk of human beings may he divided in two classes: 

1. The active or radiating. 

2. The passive or non-radiating. 

Let us for a moment consider an individual of the 
first class. Shall we suppose that his radiating action 
takes places when in the presence of a subject? This 
would be as if we were to suppose that a magnet radiates 
actively only when in the presence of iron. In reality, 
when an experimenter conducts his tests for the first 
time, on a certain number of individuals, he is thor- 



250 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

oughlj ignorant of those who will be refractory to his 
influence. Experience alone will reveal that. 

If, hjpothetically, I belong to the active or radiating 
group, and I cause my hand to be near the body of an- 
other, or an object, or if I put it in contact with that 
body or object, I will then be sending a constant cur- 
rent of radiations; an influence, as it were; just as a 
magnet which radiates its effluvia upon all environing 
objects, although only certain of those objects will be 
susceptible to receiving them. 

The question then arises: If this radiation really 
exists, how is it that its action is felt appreciably only 
in certain special circumstances, and in most cases every- 
thing happens as if it did not exist, without seemingly 
appreciable difference between the so-called radiating- 
active and the passive-non-radiating ? 

In order to give a reply to this we must consider 
those who receive the influence instead of studying those 
who exert it. 

Two suppositions can be made in the consideration of 
this problem: 

First: The passive or non-radiating individual is, as 
it were, impermeable to the radiating influence of the 
active person ; or he repels it. 

Second: This radiating influence penetrates him so 
thoroughly and completely, with such facility, that it 
instantaneously goes through his organism and out of it, 
without producing therein any reaction worth speaJc- 
ing of. 



HUMA:^[ EADIATIOISrS 251 

Of these two hypotheses, we will now examine that 
which is verified by actual facts. 

Consider A the radiating individual; B the sup- 
posedly non-radiating, and incapable of being influenced 
by A's radiations; and C, a third individual, who, on 
being directly subjected to the radiating action of A, 
exhibits all the symptoms of contraction, anesthesia, etc. 
If now A be made to act upon B, nothing will be pro- 
duced, apparently. The same will occur if B be made 
to act upon C. But if we mal^e B act upon C while 
the action of A is upon B, we will see that the reac- 
tions produced in C are exactly as if A had been acting 
directly upon him. 

Therefore everything happens as if the influence of 
the active radiator went through the insensible subject 
— insensible in appearance, but in reality permeable and 
conductible. 

From this it can then be seen that human beings are 
divided into two groups, from the point of view of 
"receptibility" : (1) The conductors or permeable -per- 
sons, who form the majority of cases, and (2) the non- 
conductors, or isolators, who, being impermeable, stop 
or repel the influence, requiring intensity and time to 
create any appreciable result. 

Since human-radiations ordinarily do not produce any 
apparent effects when directed upion material objects, it 
is permissible to suppose that the influence constantly 
radiated hy certain human heings is diffused and lost 
throughout the whole field of surrounding material oh- 



252 OUE HIDDEISr FOECES 

jeds with which they are found to he in rapport of abso- 
lute conductihility. 

Perhaps one may be astonished at the existence of a 
force capable of acting permanently, yet without reveal- 
ing, in the ordinary way, its existence and its action 
through the production of any appreciable effect. 

Fortunately, the more recent scientific discoveries 
have enabled scientists to become familiar with the exist- 
ence of such forces : electricity ; Hertzian waves, which 
always accompany an electrical discharge, and penetrate 
every material object with an inconceivable rapidity; 
Professor Branly's demonstrations of the electrification 
of scrap-iron by these waves, the principle of which 
served to discover wireless telegraphy. 

In the absence of the reaction-agent which manifests 
them, these waves possess the property of penetrating 
right through our physical bodies without any means of 
perception on our part. In the same ivay do the alter- 
nating high frequency currents, studied by Professor 
d' Arsonvaly penetrate the various material objects and 
our own physical bodies in conditions such as to render 
their detection impossible. Yet it would be sufficient 
merely to modify the conditions in which these are pro- 
duced, instantaneously to electrocute the individual ex- 
perimented upon. Their presence can be revealed by 
placing in the hands of the subject an electrical bulb, 
which immediately becomes luminous under their influ- 
ence. 

Therefore, the supposition that the human body ema- 



HUMAN^ RADIATIOI^S 253 

nates such similar radiations is not in the least contrary 
to scientific analogy. 

What, then, happens when the radiations meet an or- 
ganism which, instead of acting as conductor, is refrac- 
tory, as in the case of those called ^'subjects'' ? 

We can suppose that, not only have these radiations 
been stopped, but that they have been transformed, more 
or less, in the manner in which a ray of light is being 
refracted or diffracted while passing from one field into 
another. The problem, however, which remains to be 
solved is: What is the nature of this transformation? 
Since the original and normal state of the force ema- 
nated by human radio-action consists in absolute fluid- 
ity, it would seem as if this transformation consisted in 
a modification of this fluidity. In other terms, from 
fluidic in nature, which it was at its emission center, 
this force becomes more or less viscous, or less fluidic, in 
virtue of the reaction produced by the subject who re- 
ceives it. 

Part of the effects observed in mesmeric experimenta- 
tion seem to justify such an interpretation. For in- 
stance, in the case of Dr. Moutin's experiment, the con- 
tact of the hands of the operator with the subject's back 
gives an impression of "adherence'' : the subject qualifies 
it as "being drawn backward by invisible threads." In 
the same way, the hand of the operator placed at some 
distance from the subject's hand, foot, knee, or elbow, 
causes upon these parts various movements of attraction 



254 OUR HIDDEIST FOECES 

according with his own; and this after the exclusion 
of all possible simulation or suggestion. 

From these considerations it would appear as if the 
subject, unconsciously having arrested the radiations of 
the operator, changed their modality, and transformed 
them from the fluidic to the viscous state, would impart 
to them some entirely new properties. 

The indubitable facts, observed by many scientists in 
the course of spiritistic seances consisting in the dis- 
placement of objects without contact, would lead the 
student to ask himself if their nature were not identical 
with the other facts described above. 

When a medium, having placed his hands upon the 
table or other object, causes this to be levitated, keeps 
it suspended in the air by the sole adherence of finger- 
tips, and imparts to it various movements which corre- 
spond to those of the hands, he acts toward that object 
exactly as the mesmerist does with a subject. 

It would be right, then, to suppose that the table or 
object thus actuated were previously impregnated with 
the viscous force generated by the medium. It could not 
be supposed, here, that the inanimate, material object is 
as the animated human being, the principle of trans- 
formation of the force from the fluidic to the viscous 
state. The evidence, from all sides, is that this act of 
transformation is the work of the medium and not 
that of the inanimate, material object. 

And here is the important deduction: Those indi- 
viduals called mediums, capable of producing phenom- 



HIJMAI^ EADIATI0:N^S 255 

ena such as described above, do not belong to the cate- 
gory of ''operators'' or ''subjects/' Rather do they conr 
stitute a classification apart from the rest, because they 
appear to combine in the one organism the fusion of 
two individuals: one, the operator, capable of inces- 
santly projecting the fluidic force' ; the other, the subject, 
whose work it would be to transform this force into the 
viscous state. 

The fact which appears to confirm such an hypothesis 
is that in the majority of spiritistic seances, the medium 
always asks, at the beginning of the seance, the presence, 
even the cooperation, of certain persons, themselves 
incapable of producing the phenomenon, but exerting, 
nevertheless, a most favorable influence to the develop- 
ment of the faculties of mediumship. 

In any of the "chains" formed by spiritistic sitters, 
some are found to emanate the fluidic force, others play 
the part of simple conductors, while others accumulate 
and transform it. If among them there be really sl me- 
dium, his production of viscous energy will, in a certain 
manner, be multiplied by the quantity of fluidic force 
constantly received from the circle in which the medium 
is placed. 

Perhaps, with the help of this hypothesis, it will be 
possible to produce experimentally the phenomena hith- 
erto fortuitously observed in the course of spiritistic 
seances. 

If, hypothetically, the medium be the natural unifier 
of an operator and a subject, it should then be possible 



256 ouE hidde:n^ foeces 

to create an artificial unity by the union or cooperation 
of a subject and an operator. 

For instance, let us suppose a subject already tested 
and proved to possess a keen sensitiveness to magnetic 
influence. He is made to place his outstretched hand 
upon the top of a small table, l^ow let us suppose an 
operator tested and proved to exhibit all the necessary 
powers to exert magnetic infl.uence. He is made to 
superimpose his own hand upon the subject's, and to 
keep it in this contact for a certain length of time. What 
should be the result according to our hypothesis? The 
radiation incessantly emitted by the hand of the oper- 
ator is incessantly arrested by the hand of the subject ; 
in it, the force is being accumulated, transformed, and 
becomes viscous. 

At a given moment, however, when the hand of the 
subject has become saturated, part of the radiation, thus 
transformed, is absorbed by the object in contact with 
the hand until, little by little, the surface of the table 
becomes thoroughly impregnated with the viscous force. 
If at this moment the operator slowly lifts his hand, not 
only will the hand of the subject be attracted, but also 
the table will be drawn. This, we believe, is the sim- 
plest experiment to conduct in order to verify the exten- 
sion of our magnetic hypothesis to the phenomena of 
spiritism. 

The following phenomenon, of which, at the time, we 
failed to grasp the full importance, is that which led 
us to the conception of the foregoing hypothetical ex- 



HUMAN EADIATIONS 257 

periment. It occurred in a small society of psychical 
researchers in the town of Amelie-les-Bains during a 
short vacation. 

Being very skeptical of the pretended "spirit" com- 
munications which formed the general nature of the 
investigations, I proposed the production of certain 
physic phenomena. Without further explanations I 
then asked the members of the circle — consisting of the 
school-master, his wife, his two daughters, an aunt, and 
the wife and family of the assistant school-master — ^to 
place their hands on top of an octagonal, three-legged 
table. Having done this, I then placed my own hands, 
outstretched, some distance above theirs. After a few 
minutes of expectation, I abruptly lifted both my hands 
while I beckoned the mediums, by a sign, to do likewise. 

Marvel of marvels! The table actually left the 
ground, completely, as if adhering to the hands of the 
mediums. It lasted but the space of a few seconds and 
fell to the ground, as we uttered exclamations of sur- 
prise. 

]^o one had tricked, it was quite evident. But when 
we attempted to repeat the experiment, our efforts re- 
mained fruitless. The table did tilt on one of its legs; 
but that was all. It did not leave the ground again. 

At this juncture, I said: "Let us try another 
method." 

Once more the hands were placed on the table, with 
the understanding that at a certain sign which I would 



258 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

give, all the sitters would slowly raise their hands and 
hold them a few inches ahove it. 

When I thought the time right, I signaled; and 
as the sitters lifted their hands slowly, I brought mine to 
one side of the table. Then I began to make with my 
hand the movement of drawing the table toward myself, 
from a distance. To my profound surprise, it glided 
in my direction, and did so every time I repeated the 
movement. The Inediums were standing and followed 
the movements of the table with their outstretched hands 
a few inches above it. Several times this same phenom- 
enon was produced in the course of this seance, as also 
in several seances which followed. 

I then decided to take the table to my own house, in 
the hope of being able to experiment with greater pre- 
cision of control. 

On the floor I traced, in white chalk, a ring around 
each leg of the table, and a larger circle around the table 
itself; so that the table was quite isolated. The me- 
diums were told to keep well out of the chalk line, and 
a man was placed where he could observe the movements 
of their hands. 

Our seance took place at two o'clock in the afternoon, 
therefore in broad daylight. The table left its place 
and actually traveled some two yards away, the distance 
being measured from the smaller chalk rings around the 
table's legs. 

Such experiments clearly demonstrate the exclusion 
of spiritistic influences; and it would be well to repeat 



HUMAlSr EADIATIOI^S 259 

these experiments with an operator and a magnetic sub- 
ject. 

We repeat, here, that in this proposed hypothesis 
should be seen, not simply a theoretical hypothesis des- 
tined to explain an ensemble of facts, but an experimen- 
tal hypothesis useful in the various combinations for ex- 
perimentation. 



CHAPTER XVII 
The Conductibility of Psychic Foece 

We already have attempted to explain that the pres- 
ence of "suggestion'' does not, as were the contentions 
of Mesmer, necessarily exclude^ the presence of another 
force. This force we call "psychic force" ; and we wish 
to draw the attention of researchers to one of its most 
remarkable properties : namely, its conductihility. 

Puture discoveries may show that, where we see to-day 
but one agent in psychic force, there may be several 
in existence of which we do not know. Thus, the so- 
called mesmeric or magnetic agent may be^ quite distinct 
from the telepathic agent ; and all of these may be quite 
distinct from what we may look upon as purely the psy- 
chic force of which such distinguished scientists as Sir 
William Crookes, Professor Lombroso, and Dr. Charles 
Richet, speak as the factor responsible for the innumer- 
able instances of levitation, materialization, displace- 
ments of objects, etc. 

However different from one another these agents may 
be, they all seem to obey the great law of "conservation 
of energy.'' Therefore it seems permissible to consider 
them as so many modalities of the "universal energy." 

260 



COjSTDUCTIBILITY of psychic force 261 

They are necessarily related to one another and more 
or less convertible between themselves; or even trans- 
formable in the more frequent and general modalities 
called heat, light, electricity, etc. In any case, what- 
ever differences exist between them, they appear to us 
to possess in common the property of conductibility. 
This will form the object of our present study. 

Mr. Pierre Janet, whose competence in this field is 
universally recognized, said, in an article upon the work 
of Dr. Barety,^ that the question of animal magnetism 
had never been scientifically solved, and that it still 
called for the attentive examination of scientists. Main- 
taining that the phenomena of anesthesia, attraction, 
etc., produced on certain subjects by the mere presence 
or contact of the operator, without the slightest trace of 
suggestion, were still as striking as ever, and having 
observed that the "magnetic chain'' in seances bore cer- 
tain signs of suggestibility, he devised the following rig- 
orous method of control : 

1. Always experiment with subjects in the waking 
state. 

2. Make it impossible for your subjects to see any- 
thing that happens around them, during the whole pro- 
ceedings of the seance, by blindfolding them. 

3. Keep the most rigid silence during the whole 
period of experimentation, and impose this condition 
upon every assistant. 

4. Under no account must the subject be touched ; as 
^Le Magnetisme animal etudie sous le nom de force neurique. 



262 OUR HIDDEI^ FORCES 

the sense of touch might, in the subject, replace his 
senses of sight and hearing and thereby enable him to 
guess what is taking place. 

5. The experiments should be so arranged as to make 
it impossible for the operator himself to foresee the 
results (at least for the first time of experimentation), 
leaving this to the ultimate issue of the experiment. 

All these precautions have been devised to isolate the 
subject, mentally and physically, as completely as pos- 
sible. He must, in a measure, be treated merely as an 
instrument in a laboratory, and as such give reactions. 

In this field of research, experimenters will always 
meet four principal causes of illusions and errors : 

1. The simulation on the part of the subject. This 
may he voluntary or involuntary ; fraudulent or com- 
plaisant. 

To simulate, the subject must know or guess what 
is expected of him, whether he has seen the phenomenon 
exhibited by other subjects or whether the operator has, 
prior to experimenting, mentioned what he expects to 
obtain. This is why the so-called experiments in sug- 
gestion lend themselves so easily to simulation, a fact 
which the School of the Salpetriere has strongly objected 
to in the School of ^ancy. This is also why experi- 
ments in magnetism^, to be convincing, must be so com- 
bined as to make it utterly impossible for the subject to 
guess the nature of the phenomenon which is expected 
to be produced. 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FOECE 263 

2. The most important source of error is the influence 
of suggestion proper. 

The subjects are very sensitive to its influence, and 
tlie majority of operators exert it unconsciously in tlieir 
looks, tlieir words, gestures, personal and general man- 
ner of conducting experiments, etc. Hence the value 
and the necessity of imposing silence upon all alike be- 
fore, during, and after experimentation. The influence 
of indirect and of auto-suggestion becomes eliminated if 
the operator determines that the subject shall not be 
touched, however slightly. The nature of the experi- 
ment, also, may be varied each time ; and in using sub- 
jects in the waking state, the possibilities of indirect 
suggestion will be minimized to their least degree, for 
subjects are then less suggestionable than when placed in 
the hypnotic, comatic state. 

3. The extreme sensibility of the subjects; for their 
hyperesthetic state causes them to perceive some extraor- 
dinarily fine impressions, too fine to be perceived by 
an ordinary sensitiveness. 

It may be said that, when the hand is placed to within 
a few inches of the skin of the subject and 30 or 40 
seconds afterward anesthesia, contraction, or other 
modifications, are produced, it would be wrong to con- 
clude that the hand sends forth radiations ; these things 
being explained through hyperesthesia of the subject, 
who, having felt the heat of your own hand, has sug- 
gested to himself these states of contraction and anes- 
thesia. If it is not possible entirely to lay aside this 



264 OUE HIDDEI^ FOECES 

objection, a priori, it is at least possible to weaken it 
by replying that liyperestJiesid exists only in subjects 
under hypnotic sleep, and therefore it is going too far 
to suppose that such is the case with the subject in the 
waking state. His condition has not deviated from the 
normal ; for the subject's sensibility, on being tested, is 
found to be the same as that of every other ordinary 
person. 

4. The acute perspicacity of the subjects, which 
might he called intellectual hyperesthesia, a state which 
enables the subjects to guess or divine the intentions of 
the operator. 

It is very important to define the nature of these two 
states of perspicacity. The first kind, generally ad- 
mitted, might be called hypnotic perspicacity; the other, 
still contested by the majority of scientists, although the 
members of the Society of Psychical Research are in- 
clined to see it everywhere, should be called telepathic 
perspicacity. 

As to the ability to control hypnotic perspicacity, 
there is little to add to what already has been said. It 
would be wise from time to time, however, to test this 
perspicacity by means of cross-correspondence, when it 
will be found that this condition of the subject's mind is 
really less in evidence than is supposed. 

In regard to telepathic perspicacity, we have per- 
sonally found that while experimenting on a given line 
of research, it has never been possible for us to suggest 
a determined idea to any of our subjects, although we 



C0:N"DUCTIBILITY of psychic FOECE 265 

have often tried to do so. We succeeded once in causing 
hypnotic sleep, by the sole effort of the will, and in wak- 
ing the subject in the same manner, but we have never 
been confronted by the actual spontaneous divination of 
our thoughts and ideas not expressed in words. On the 
other hand, the instances when we produced the phe- 
nomena of contractions, attractions, anesthesia, etc., by 
the sole presentation of the hand without contact, are 
innumerable. By what miracle could we have realized, 
unconsciously and without personal effort, the phenom- 
enon of mental suggestion which we never before had 
produced ? 

The telepathic perspicacity of the subjects appears to 
us, until further discoveries, something rare and excep- 
tional. Where such a factor exists, the experienced ex- 
perimenter will have no difficulty in recognizing its pres- 
ence, and in learning how to select those subjects who 
present the unimpeachable signs of good faith. And as 
it may also happen, as in our own case, that certain tests 
do not respond to expectations while experimenting with 
the same subjects, in identical conditions, it will then 
be deemed useful to apply the fifth rule of our method : 

5. Try so to conduct the experiments that the oper- 
ator himself shall he entirely unable to guess the results. 
Let results he your sole informants. 



Having purposely for the second time insisted on ad- 
hering strictly to the rigidity of this method, so that 
the phenomena obtained during these experiments will 



266 OUR HIDDE:N' FORCES 

not be subject to refutation as imperfectly controlled, 
we will now pass on to tbe description of conductibility 
of tbe psycbic force. 

We already know tbe various degrees or states mani- 
fested by subjects under tbe influence of tbis force. For 
tbe student wbo may not remember tbese, we will briefly 
enumerate tbem. Tbey are generally found in tbe fol- 
lowing order of importance : 

1. Pbenomena of anestbesia, contraction, attraction, 
etc. j produced locally, and often accompanied by various 
sensations: cold, warmtb, sbivering, prickling sensa- 
tions, etc. 

2. Development of tbe suggestibility of tbe subject, 
eacb time tbat tbe action of tbe psycbic force is directed 
to tbe brain or extended tbere. 

3. Production of tbe different states of hypnosis: 
letbargy, catalepsy, somnambulism, accompanied by tbe 
various cbaracterizations of tbese states, notably tbat of 
rapport as it was described in earlier days of researcb. 

4. Tbe pbenomenon of tbe exteriorization or dissoci- 
ation of tbe sensitiveness (especially described by Col- 
onel Albert de Rocbas and by Dr. Paul Joire, of Lille, 
France) . 

5. Tbe pbenomenon of tbougbt-transference, telepa- 
thy, mental suggestion. 

6. Tbe action exerted upon material objects: move- 
ments, noises, levitations, materializations, etc. ; tbe so- 
called pbenomena of spiritistic and mediumistic source. 




EXTERIORIZATION OF THE SENSITIVENESS 
A photograph of the sensitive was taken and the negative (plate) was 
then held by her for a few moments. The operator, with a pin, scratched 
the hand on the plate. Instantly the sensitive ejaculated with pain,^and 
a small red spot appeared on the back of her hand. This rapidly grew 
into the blister shown in the above photograph. 

The experiment was conducted by the translator, some years ago, in the 
company of Dr. Forbes- Winslow, the late well-known English alienist. 



COJ^DUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FOECE 267 

produced by mediums more or less deeply imbued witb 
spiritistic beliefs. 

The above enumeration would be complete were it to 
contain mention of the therapeutical effects of this psy- 
chic force: such, for instance, as magnetic healing, 
psychic healing, etc. ; also the phenomenon of lucidity 
or second sight. These we have purposely omitted ; be- 
cause of their greatly complex nature, they lend them- 
selves too difficultly to experimental analysis, and, for 
the moment, they can be Studied only through the ob- 
scure method of "observation." Also, we possess as 
yet little personal information ; and their relation to the 
conductibility of the psychic force is not yet clearly 
determined. 

Holding, therefore, these two kinds of phenomena in 
reservation, we are now in a position to affirm that all 
other phenomena are susceptible to being conducted; 
that they are capable of being produced from and at a 
distance, through certain intermediaries, and that thus 
the power to produce them can be transmitted by those 
who possess the force to those who do not. 

Furthermore, it has been found that the intermedi- 
aries through which this force is conductible are of 
two kinds : First, they may be material substances, such 
as an ordinary iron or copper wire, in nature identical to 
that used in the conductibility of electricity for tele- 
phonic or telegraphic purposes. Second, they may be 
human beings. It is especially this kind — organic or 
living conduction — ^which will be described here. 



268 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

The subject witli whom I experimented for the dem- 
onstration of this phenomenon of conductibility was 
G. P., of whom mention is made in a former chapter. 
He possessed this special peculiarity, which I have not 
found in others, that my right and left hands produced 
contrary and different effects upon him. If my right 
hand was being held some distance from his forehead, 
for any length of time, it had the effect of producing 
a deep hypnotic sleep. My left hand, on the contrary, 
had the effect of waking him up. This took place each 
time with the subject blindfolded; without the utter- 
ance of one single word on my part; and with careful 
elimination of indirect suggestion. 

When I placed my hand, under the same conditions, 
opposite any part of his organism, it produced the vari- 
ous phenomena of attraction, contraction, pricking, 
hitching, etc. The two hands presented simultaneously, 
in this case particularly, had the effect of combining the 
various sensations, usually neutralizing them. 

It was in the course of a seance at which I had the 
assistance of my colleague, L. B., professor of physics 
at the Lycee Carnot, that I obtained the first proofs of 
the material conduction of psychic force. We took an 
ordinary copper wire, isolated with gutta-percha, the 
kind used for the purpose of connecting electric bells. 
I held the raw metal extremity of the wire, went back 
some paces, as far distant as the length of the wire per- 
mitted, while my assistant held the gutta-percha extrem- 
ity of the wire, which he had taken the precaution to iso- 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 269 

late from his own influence by twisting part of the end 
around an ordinary wooden rule. On presenting his end 
of the wire some distance in front of the subject's fore- 
head, we witnessed the same phenomena as those ob- 
tained by the direct presentation of my right hand, 
placed at the same distance: the phenomena of at- 
traction. 

I now reversed the process and placed the wire in my 
left hand. From the same distance, held opposite the 
forehead or knee or hand of the subject, the extremity 
of the wooden ruler produced the same pricking sensa- 
tions which the bare hand would produce. 

On to this wire I now grafted a second wire, and held 
the two extremities, so as to transmit simultaneously the 
action of the two hands. The effect produced in this 
case was as if I had proceeded directly with my hands : 
pricking and attraction. 

The following year, I undertook the same experi- 
ments, this time with a student in philosophy, Mr. L. V. 
During several months these experiments were con- 
ducted in the closest of scientific collaboration.^ Twice 
a week these seances were held. Another student in 
philosophy, Mr. B., filled the part of secretary, and a 
friend, Mr. C, acted as assistant. 

* An account of these is to be found in the Annales des Sciences 
Psychiques, under the title Une nouvelle methode d^ experimenta- 
tion -pour verifier I' action nerveuse a distance. In his review, 
L'Annee Psychologique, Mr. Binet says he regrets that, for the 
sake of more precise control, a prestidigitator should have been 
invited ! 



270 OUR HIDDEI^ FORCES 

At this time, and contrary to what I had observed in 
G. P. in the preceding years, my subject failed to be 
sensitive to the different influences of my right and left 
hands. The right hand, as well as the left, produced 
the same effects of anesthesia and contraction. For in- 
stance, attraction of the foot, the hand, the arm, or the 
leg of the subject could be obtained only when the hand 
of the operator, which was held some distance in front 
of the organ, executed the movement desired. When 
holding the raw end of either copper or iron wire while 
the other extremity, twisted round a glass rod, was being 
presented to the subject by C, the same effects were 
obtained through this means of conduction as were ob- 
tained by the bare hands. I have even obtained partial, 
localized anesthesia, spreading over an area of some 
millimeters, right under the very point of the wire. 

When, as described in an earlier chapter, I presented 
my hand around the fingers of which was fixed a wire 
appliance so as to form a wire-fingered hand, the action 
of the psychic force became considerably intensified. 
The subject, who, it must be borne in mind, still was 
blindfolded, suddenly thrust himself back and exclaimed 
painfully that he felt as if being burned with five red- 
hot claws, which had sunk into his skin. 

A copper wire wound round my arm from the wrist 
to the elbow, and upon which I grafted another wire, 
the end of this being presented opposite any location of 
the periphery, produced the same actions as if it had 
been held in my hand or twisted round my finger. 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FOECE 271 

It would appear, therefore, as if really the psychic 
force of the operator, emanati/ng from every portion of 
his body, although with greater intensity and qvxinUty 
from the fingers, could be accumulated and conducted at 
a distance through a material intermediary, such as, for 
instance, a metal wire, 

l^umerous experiments, analogous to these, have been 
conducted by Dr. Barety, who has given a complete de- 
scription of them in his book, Le Magnetisme animal. 

He cites the instance of an experiment made with 
three steel knitting needles, placed in a triangle on top 
of a biconvex lense ; when held by the doctor at some dis- 
tance from his subject's skin, they produced three deep 
and distinct pricking sensations, felt in one. 

Dr. Barety claims to have gone farther than this: he 
has even measured the speed at which psychic force can 
travel. Conducted along a flax string, the magnetic rays 
covered a yard in one second. 

In the more recent work of Dr. Crocq, Jr., of Brus- 
sels, UHypnotisme scientifique, the following experi- 
ments are related : 

"The subject is in the sleep state. I lift his right arm 
and it remains stiff, in the position assumed. Taking 
a magnet, I now put it near his left arm. In a few 
seconds, the right arm inclines downward while the left 
comes upward, and assumes the horizontal position of 
the other arm. Success attends every similar experiment 
— ^with the lower limbs, as well as with the arms. When 



272 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

the magnet is placed at the back of the head, this causes 
the arms to go up ; first the right, then the left. 

^^It could almost be believed that the subject is guided 
by my presence on one side or the other of his body, and, 
although blindfolded, seems to know on what side I am 
holding the magnet. You see, gentlemen, that the 
^transfer' has been produced as the code signs M, E, K, 
are made, and while I spoke in the opposite direction. 

"A witness, Mr. G., thinking that it may be a case 
of mental suggestion,' asks me to turn my back on the 
proceedings, and to remain in the distance. It now be- 
ing utterly impossible for me to know what may hap- 
pen, the transfer is again successful. 

^^All this would seemingly indicate the presence of 
a real action of the magnet on a subject in the hypnotic 
state. If, however, I use my fists instead of the mag- 
net, the same phenomena are being enacted. 

"It might be objected that if Charcot, Luys, etc., at- 
tributed somnambulism to certain special actions of the 
magnetic fluid, then Luys, Charcot, etc., believe, on 
the other hand, that man generates a similar force. 

"Therefore, when my fists are close to the subject, the 
fluid which is being generated acts in the same way 
upon him. 'Now, if I use my stick, instead of my fists 
or the magnet, the transfer again takes place; and the 
same will take place with any other object. 

"The conclusion to come to would be that all bodies 
( ?) are good conductors of human influence, and that 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 273 

this influence is analogous to the fluid emanating from 
a magnet. 

*'I do not think I am in the position to accept such 
a theory, and / really prefer the conclusion that my 
subject is in a state of hyperesthesia, and that therefore 
he feels the presence of an object nearing him; that he 
possesses, in a word, an acute sensibility, a sort of 
^5ez^(io-exteriorization of the sensitiveness." ^ 

It is natural that the mode of conduction of the psy- 
chic force which appears to be the most interesting, from 
the point of view of new applications and processes in 
experimental research, is through the intermediary of 
the human body. 

But does every one possess the faculty of radiating 
the psychic force ? 

At first sight, it may appear to be so. Yet if we con- 
sult past experience, the answer will be that this radia- 
tion is of such feeble nature that its effects are not mani- 
fested to any appreciable degree. For instance, in the 
conditions of control as prescribed by our experimental 
method, any number of people, from ten upward, will 
place, in succession, their hand opposite any part of the 
body of the subject that it may please them to choose. 

^ The italics and the interrogation-mark are ours. The author, 
who recognizes that his subject is ** anesthetic, " since he can be 
burnt, pricked, etc., without showing any reaction, pretends that 
this general state of anesthesia does not hinder his special state 
of hyperesthesia. The quotation of this passage shows a typical 
example of the manner in which the partisans of '* suggestion ' ' 
argue and experiment. 



274 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

It will then be noted that, of those ten operators, a cer- 
tain number of them will with more or less rapidity and 
intensity, produce the same effects of contraction, attrac- 
tion, anesthesia, etc., that I personally produce; whereas 
the others will produce no appreciable effects, even after 
ten or twenty minutes. The same results will prevail 
throughout every seance, keeping the same individual 
characteristics. Therefore, among the assistants are to 
be found some people who radiate this magnetic influ- 
ence and others who do not, yet without our possessing 
any previous indications to that effect. 

I have also found, while experimenting with a widely 
known French philosopher, Professor A. F., that if the 
non-radiating individual remains a sufficient length of 
time in contact with the one who radiates^ he will absorb 
— accumulate, as it were — in his own organism, part of 
the influence. When once sufficiently charged with the 
radiating influence, he can for a certain length of time 
operate on others with success. 

Thus the natural deduction is that the psychic force 
is not only conductible, but also capable of accumu- 
lation. 

We have observed the same phenomenon of conduc- 
tion when employing the process of Dr. Moutin as de- 
scribed in his thesis, Le diagnostic de la Suggestibilite. 
This consists in the application of the hands of the oper- 
ator, one on each shoulder-blade, both thumbs meeting 
on a knot of the spine. Very often it happens that when 
experimenting in this way with an individual sensitive 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 275 

to magnetic influence, the subject is drawn backward 
with such force as almost to lose his equilibrium. When 
resisting the inclination to fall backward, he will walk 
backward. The attraction can be exerted without con- 
tact, at a distance from 5 to 6 yards. 

What is most significant^ however^ is that the above 
results can he produced hy placing another, nonrsensitive 
individual between the operator and the sensitive sub- 
ject. 

Many times I have been able so to influence a friend 
of mine, Dr. S., very sensitive to this process, through 
the body of another person, thoroughly incredulous and 
uninfluenceable ; this non-sensitive lightly touched his 
shoulders with her fingers, while my hands transmitted 
the force to her when placed upon her shoulder-blades. 

We have now seen that the physical and physiological 
effects of the psychic force, of the most elementary and 
simple order — attraction, contraction, anesthesia, etc. — 
can be transmitted by conduction. Others more complex 
and delicate, in which the psychological element inter- 
venes, obey the same law. 

If directed upon the brain, the psychic force deter- 
mines in it, in a general way at first, an exaltation of 
the suggestibility. Then, if its action is sufficiently 
intense and prolonged, it produces the various states 
which Charcot was the first to designate as catalepsy, 
lethargy, and somnambulism. 

When I placed my hand for half a minute opposite 



276 OUE HIDDElSr FOECES 

the forehead of my subject G. P., he fell into a state of 
extraordinary suggestibility (called also state of cred- 
ulity), though manifesting outwardly all the signs of 
being awake. While in this state, if one of the assistants 
gave him suggestions to produce hallucination, paralysis, 
anesthesia, etc., the subject, although hearing these, 
would ignore them entirely, refusing to obey. But if 
the assistant held my hand, the subject (blindfolded) 
obeyed instantly, as if the suggestions had been given 
by myself. 

Thus the power to make suggestion effective can be 
transmitted from one individual to another. 

As to the conductibility of catalepsy and lethargy, I 
have not as yet had the opportunity to conduct tests 
in that direction. But many opportunities have been 
given me to test curious phenomena of somnambulism. 

To induce G. P. into the somnambulistic state, it was 
sufficient for me to make a few passes from the vertex 
to the epigastrium. Then, being solely in rapport with 
myself, no other individual had the power to make sug- 
gestion effective. G. P. simply ignored them when 
spoken to. I, only, seemed to be in communication with 
him, and this without the previous use of suggestion 
on my part. Yet, another person could be put in rapport 
with him by taking his hand, or — and this takes us back 
to the phenomenon of conductibility — by taking my 
hand. 

Another example which demonstrates this point: I 
was some distance away, my arm resting on a table, 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 277 

close to which stood the interlocutor. Each time that 
the latter pressed mj hand with one of his fingers, the 
subject (blindfolded) heard him and gave adequate re- 
plies. As soon as the contact ceased, the subject ceased 
to hear him ; in the middle of a phrase, even, the subject 
clearly showed by his attitude that he had ceased to hear 
the voice. 

In order to give greater rigidity to the experiment, 
while combining physical and physiological (living) 
conductibility, two nails were driven into the ends of 
the table. They were then connected by an isolated 
wire, with the bare ends protruding a few inches. Sit- 
ting at one extremity, I held one end of the wire, while 
each of the assistants sat opposite me and touched, with 
one finger, the other end of the wire, at liberty to sus- 
pend contact whenever desired. It was in those condi- 
tions that we were able to watch the instantaneous pro- 
duction or prevention of the state of ^^rapport/' each 
time that one or the other assistant contacted the wire. 

In other cases we produced certain variations of effect 
which I could not always explain. For example, to es- 
tablish the position of rapport between the subject and 
an assistant, it was often necessary for me, as operator, 
to contact the subject first, and then the assistant; or to 
contact both at once. This is no doubt the case which 
E. Gasc-Desfosses, who had assisted at one of these 
seances, relates in his work.* 

*Le magnetisme animal, Ed. Gase-Desfosses. 



278 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

Mauj others have written extensively on the subject 
of rapport in the somnambulistic state. 

Omitting mention of the ancient exponents of mes- 
merism, we find a contribution in the Revue de Vhypno- 
tisTne, Paris, 1888, from the pen of Dr. Barety, La force 
neurique, in which is cited a series of experiments bear- 
ing the same significance as our own. 

Dr. Barety and his colleague, Dr. Planet, experiment 
with a subject, L., 32 years old, hemianesthesic, who, 
when in the hypnotic state, sees and feels but three peo- 
ple. He can, however, be placed in rapport with other 
individuals, with animals, and other objects by means of 
contact with the finger, or at a distance by means of an 
intermediary, or by the gaze, or hy directing the ex- 
tremities of the fingers in the direction of the person 
with whom it is desired to place him in rapport. This 
is all the more effective when the extremities of the fin- 
gers are being directed toward the image of the indi- 
vidual, reflected in a mirror. 

Dr. Barety says : "Any person whom I place in rap- 
port with my subject, L., can influence him, as I do, 
directly, but only so long as I maintain the state of 
rapport. In this condition the subject can be put to 
sleep, awakened, and suggestioned at will; but if the 
assistant attempts to act without my influence, as inter- 
mediary, no results can be obtained." 

Dr. Marot, of Paris, in reply to a questionnaire sent 
him by Dr. Crocq, of Brussels, stated that as a result 
of certain experiments outlined by Barety, which he 



i 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 279 

conducted, he found that the hypnotized subject could 
see an object or an individual (though blindfolded) as 
soon as the operator touched these things with his 
fingers. It must be understood that every precaution 
had been taken to prevent the subject from being in- 
fluenced in any way by suggestions. He could not see, 
and his replies were given independently of any question 
on the part of the operator.^ 

The following year, 1889, the Revue de Vhypnotisme 
published, without commentary, an article by Dr. Mes- 
net, Troubles fonctionnels des sens dans Vhypnotisme 
("Functional Troubles of the Senses During Hyp- 
nosis"). His remarks may be summed up as follows: 
"The subject hears or does not hear an assistant so long 
as the latter is or is not in contact with the operator." 

The phenomena of the exteriorization of the sensitive- 
ness,^ although still very little known or understood, 
despite the remarkable experiment conducted by Colonel 
A, de Eochas, testify to the conductibility of the psychic 
force. 

The subject with whom I experimented was my young 
Pyrenean domestic servant, J. M., and the notes which 
follow are textually as I find them in my experimental 
note-book. 

"I try with J. M. the 'transfer of the sensitiveness' 
from operator to subject by the intermediary of a glass 
of water. Success attends from the start. He feels in- 

° L 'hypnotisme scientifique, Dr. Crocq, Jr. 

° Also understood as the dissociation of the sensibility. 



280 OUR HIDDEN TOECES 

stantaneously every pain inflicted upon me by pinching, 
while he is holding in his hands the glass of water which 
I held before." 

The most amazing side of the phenomenon which I 
observed then was the continuation of the transfer to 
other individuals. 

"Madame B.'s sensations of pain when pinched are 
instantaneously communicated to the subject when she 
holds my hand. 

"A chain of four people is being formed, of which I 
am the first link. The painful sensations of pinching 
inflicted upon any of the links in the chain are immedi- 
ately felt by the subject. This fact was all the more 
interesting because we all stood behind the door of the 
room in which the subject was in the comatic sleep. We 
could see that his contortions were due to the pain 
inflicted each time any of us was being pricked. 

"Another evening, in the presence of the director of 
the public school of A., Mr. M. C, and of his family, 
I induced J. M., the subject, into the usual state of 
coma while a glass of water was being placed in his 
hands. Having held the glass just a few seconds, I 
demonstrated to my visitors that the subject J. M. felt 
every contact which I inflicted upon the glass. (I must 
emphasize, here, that I never give my assistants any 
idea of what I am about to demonstrate.) As Madame 
B. had now touched the hose of the glass held by the 
subject, I discovered that she was in communication 




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COI^DUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 281 

with J. M. througli this intermediary. Any pain in- 
flicted upon Madame B. was felt by the subject. 

"We then formed another chain, of which Madame B. 
was the first link. The reactions were now so violent 
that we found it necessary to break up the experiment." 

Confirmation of these facts I was very happy to find 
in the experiments which Dr. Paul Joire conducted in 
Lille, the reports of which he published in the Revue de 
VHypnotisme (January, 1898). This is what Dr. Joire 
says : 

"A glass of water was placed in the hands of the sub- 
ject in a state of somnambulism, and then became 
charged with his own sensitiveness. As soon as an 
ordinary steel needle was plunged into the water, the 
subject at once resented a painful sensation, as if being 
pricked. My assistant, M. Leuliette, kept his eyes fixed 
on a chronometer-watch, while the other assistants noti- 
fied him, instantly, of the moment at which I plunged 
my needle into the water, and of the corresponding 
grimace of pain expressed on the face of the subject. 
It was discovered, thus, that no appreciable space of 
time elapsed between these two actions, the prick and the 
reaction. 

"l^ow, I beckoned to an assistant to take the glass in 
his own left hand, and with his right hand, to take the 
subject's left hand. It was then noticed that a fraction 
of a second elapsed between the two actions. 

"When a chain of two or three persons was being 
interposed between the glass of water and the subject, 



282 OUE HIDDEN FORCES 

there was to be noticed a marked delay in the transmis- 
sion of the pain-sensation from the glass to the subject. 
When five persons were interposed, the delay in the 
transmission amounted to almost two seconds." 

The work of Professor Ochorowicz, of the University 
of Lemberg, entitled La suggestion mentaley and the re- 
searches conducted by the Society for Psychical Re- 
search in London have had the result of calling the atten- 
tion of the general public to the phenomena of telepathy 
and thought-communication or thought-transference. 

It was expected that this group of psychic phenomena 
would give up its secrets to the multitude of seekers; 
but, alas ! it does not seem that we are to-day any more 
advanced in the knowledge of its mechanism. This may 
be due entirely to the fact that these phenomena lend 
themselves badly to the experimental method; except, 
of course, in such simple cases as those delineated by 
Dr. Joire.*^ 

For my own part, I am still in the position of asking 
whether it is a mere chance which is accountable for my 
never having met a telepathic subject, or whether it ia 
that the production of these phenomena necessitates in 
us the presence of a special faculty? I must confess, 
that, having attempted over a considerable period of 
experimentation to obtain unquestionable proofs of 

' These may be read in their entirety in an article entitled : 
Be la suggestion mentale: experiences nouvelles, in the Eevue de 
Vhypnotisme, October, 1897»^ 



COE"DUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 283 

"mental suggestion" or of "thought-transference/' all 
my results have been in the negative. 

Yet, I have been able to produce a similar phenom- 
enon. That of provoking hypnotic sleep in subjects not 
previously warned of my doings, and of waking them 
up, from a distance^ by a simple effort of the will, more 
or less intense and prolonged. 

Such experiments, however, I do not regard as abso- 
lute proofs, nor can they be considered in the light of 
thought-transmission. 

Thought-transmission really consists in having the 
hrain of A when acting upon the brain of B create in 
the consciou^sness of B the appearance of an idea or of a 
series of ideas, identical in nature to those which occupy 
the consciousness of A. 

What was sent from my physical brain to that of my 
subject G. P., during the hundreds of experiments with 
him, was not the idea of sleep nor the idea of waking 
up; it was a purely physical influence which produced 
sleeping and waking, independently of any idea. Only 
such an interpretation seems to me to account for all the 
peculiarities of the phenomenon. 

Thus, each time that I attempted to "suggest men- 
tally" to my subject (in the waking state) : "Lift your 
right arm," "Put your left foot forward," etc., he be- 
came more or less rapidly influenced through my states 
of cerebral concentration and of nervous tension. But 
the reactions were always of the same order. The sub- 
ject invariably ended by going to sleep. If, on the other 



284 OUR HIDDEN FORCES 

hand, I experimented with a subject in the sleeping 
state, he reacted by waking up. 

There is, however, a fact of greater significance : 

My subject G. P. had a friend, whom, judging from 
his facial expression, I supposed to be a sensitive. 
While these two were one day deeply attentive to the 
conversation going on in the reception-room, which was 
filled with numerous people, I concentrated all my 
thoughts upon G. P.'s friend, and mentally commanded 
him to sleep. Both G. P. and his friend had their faces 
turned away from me. The young man appeared in no 
way to reflect my mental suggestions ; but G. P., whom 
I had forgotten, fell asleep, then woke up, slept again 
and woke again — and so on, indefinitely, as long as I 
kept up the action. 

Seemingly, the effect produced by my will, or rather 
the tension of my brain which accompanied the efforts 
of mind-concentration, was purely a physical action, en- 
tirely independent of all communication, transference or 
suggestion of ^^thought." When the subject was in the 
waking state, this cerebral tension, being transmitted, 
as it were, to his brain, caused him to sleep; whereas, 
if he were in the sleeping state, it would cause him to 
awake. 

For the present we will lay aside any attempt at de- 
fining this phenomenon ; rather should we take due con- 
sideration of the fact that it obeys the same laws of con- 
ductibility as do the other phenomena of which we have 
spoken. 



COISTDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FOECE 285 

To conclude our study of this subject of conduct ibility 
and of the effects of the psychic force, it remains for us 
to show that the power of influencing material objects 
at a distance can be transmitted, by conduction, from 
one individual to another. 

This power seems to belong, as is shown by recorded 
facts, not to operators, as in former experiments, but to 
a class of individuals called mediums, whose psycho- 
physiological qualities, in many respects analogous to 
those possessed by subjects, form a rarer and more ex- 
ceptional expression of the psychic force. 

All the examples given to illustrate this phase of psy- 
chic phenomena are borrowed from manifestations of 
this force produced by the medium, Eusapia Paladino. 

To our mind, it seems that the attention of those scien- 
tists who experimented with her has not been brought 
to bear upon the phenomena of conductibility. For in 
their experimental sittings can be traced some decisive 
proofs as evidence of this faculty of psychic force. 

First may be mentioned all the cases in which Eusapia 
has produced, from a distance, the displacement of ob- 
jects, by extending her hand toward them, or by holding 
the hand of one of the assistants to which she imparts 
certain movements. 

These few instances, taken from the report published 
in the Annales des Sciences Psychiques, 1896, relate to 
the experiences of Agnelas : 

Page 25. "The hand of M. de Gramont is taken by Eusapia, 
who holds both ber own hand and bis above her bead. At 



286 OUR HIDDEN FOECES 

once the curtain, some distance behind her head, shakes vio- 
lently. 

Page 31. "Eusapia takes M. MaxwelPs right hand, and 
holds it the distance of one foot above the table. The table 
first rocks sidewise, and then rises from that side. 

Page 46. "Eusapia, who has seized both hands of M. Saba- 
tier, imparts to them a to-and-fro motion, as if wanting to 
open the door of the side-board, situated to the left, three 
feet distant, and behind M. de Watteville. At once the side- 
board door is heard to rattle and seen to move as if in the act 
of being forced open, the lock being closed." 

Then follow tbe various cases where Eusapia imparts 
to tlie assistants lier psycbic power of causing mate- 
rial objects momentarily to depart from the law of 
gravitation. 

Colonel de Bochas wrote in the Annales des Sciences 
Psychiques (1898) : "In Montfort-rAmaury, as else- 
where, the sitters abruptly terminate the seances when 
the medium is utterly exhausted, after two or three 
hours' sitting. ^N'otwithstanding this fact, Eusapia re- 
mains always strongly charged with psychic force. It 
is in the full light that she produces various phenomena, 
which she repeats several times at the request of the 
assistants. For instance, she will ask you to place your 
hand on a table or on the back of a chair. She puts 
her hand on top of it, and then lifts her own hand. 
Your hand and the piece of furniture underneath it fol- 
low Eusapia's hand, and rise in the air, where they re- 
main suspended during 40 to 50 seconds. Then the 






COI^DUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 287 

furniture falls to the ground, and Eusapia sighs deeply, 
as if relieved from a violent effort.^' 

To my mind, from the point of view of the conducti- 
bility of the psychic force, the experiment would have 
been greatly more conclusive if the hand of the medium 
had been placed on the shoulder, instead of on the hand, 
of the operator. 

Maxwell, in his Psychic Phenomena, cites the 
following lines which show that certain phenomena of 
supposed spiritoidal order also obey the law of conducti- 
bility. The citation deals with the question of "raps" : 
that is, of knocks and rattling noises heard on walls, 
furniture, boards, etc. 

"A table is placed to within 3 or 4 feet of the medium. 
The experiment takes place in the broad light. The 
experimenter takes the hands of the medium in one of 
his own, and places his other hand some distance above 
the table. A few seconds suffice to produce the most 
convincing raps. At other times it is sufficient merely 
to touch the medium with one hand and to wave the 
other above the table to obtain the loudest of raps.'' 

This same author states also : 

"It is not always the medium who obtains the beet 
results, without direct contact, in the production of such 
phenomena as levitations, attractions of objects, and 
raps; I have seen certain assistants obtain some very 
marked results. But this fact is not generally the case, 
although it is not rare. It is disconcerting enough, be- 
cause those who manifest this force cannot obtain, alone^ 



288 OUE HIDDEN FOECES 

any result. The presence of a medium is necessary to 
obtain the supra-manifestation of their psychic force." 

What are the deductioTis to he drawn from the fad 
that all the psychic phenomena^ the simplest as well as 
the most complex, obey the same law of conductihilityf 

The consequences are of two kinds. 

Eirst of all, the conductibility of the psychic force 
will enable us to explain the difference, as yet unfathom- 
able, which exists between those individuals called sub- 
jects and the rest of humanity. The term "subject," it 
must be understood, comprises all those who are sensi- 
tive to the action of the psychic force. 

It can be argued that all men may be more or less 
influenced by this force, as it is also said that we are all 
subject, in various degrees, to being hypnotized or sug- 
gestioned. Nevertheless, it is perfectly true that among 
us some reveal themselves active or operators, whereas 
other are passive or subjects, and that the vast majority 
are neutral, inefficacious, or insensible. 

To what must we attribute these differences^ How is 
it that one individual is more rapidly and deeply af- 
fected by psychic influence than another, who, having 
been sub j exited to such influence, feels nothing whatever? 

The hypothesis regarding the first would be that he 
is permeable, or open to its action; whereas the second 
is impermeable, or closed to its action. And one may 
understand these two opposed states, when trying to 
imagine that the vital radio-action of the first allows 



COI^DUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 289 

itself to be repelled and penetrated by the stronger 
radio-action of the operator, to which the second, on the 
contrary, opposes the resistance which equilibrates it or 
annuls it. 

This is the hypothesis which, unconsciously, we have 
admitted for a long time. But the phenomena of con- 
ductibility suggest to us a totally different interpreta- 
tion. 

Those who are permeable — thai is, who are good cort 
ductors of the psychic force and are being permeated by 
it without resistance and without diminution — are actu- 
ally the active and the neutrals: in a word, those insen- 
sible to its effects. 

On the contrary: those who receive this psychic ac- 
tion, who oppose and repel it, those who are imperme- 
able, accumulate and conserve it in their own organ- 
ism, in which it finds all the time to produce its effects 
are ^'subjects,'' therefore passive. 

A comparison with electricity imposes itseK. It may 
be said that the "subjects" correspond to the class of 
bodies which are bad conductors of electricity, or isola- 
tors. The others, the non-subjects, would correspond to 
the class of good conductors. As long as electricity 
passes through the good conductors which it meets on its 
way, invisibly, silently, in a manner not to be suspected, 
everything happens as if it did not exist. It is only 
when electricity meets certain bad conductors that it is 
arrested and accumulated ; and then is the time when it 
manifests its existence through the production of phe- 



290 OIJR HIDDEN FORCES 

nomena. Turn an electric current upon a metallic wire, 
and tlie luminous, caloric and other effects whicli you 
will observe will be in direct relation to the resistance 
met in tbe wire. The greater the resistance, the greater 
will be the effects. 

The same applies to an operator whose magnetic or 
psychic force (hy hand imposition or hy making 
'' passes" upon a normal individual), not meeting any 
resistance in the subject's organism^ is immediately dis- 
persed and reintegrated into what may he qalled the uni- 
versal reservoir of nature's forces. If, however, this 
same action be exerted upon a subject whose organism 
is impermeable, it accumulates within him to the extent 
of producing certain perturbations, more or less pro- 
found and lasting according to the intensity with which 
it has been developed. 

Of course, this must be regarded as an hypothesis 
only. But it must be stated that it is logically deduced 
from the conductibility of the psychic force ; and there- 
fore appears to us worthy of being introduced into the 
psychological laboratory, where it may be verified ex- 
perimentally. 

The second important consequence of this law of con- 
ductibility is that it explains the reason why the mag- 
netic and the psychic phenomena are relatively rare and 
exceptional, whereas the existing force which produces 
them appears, on the contrary, very widely distributed 
and continually active. 

Inasmuch as this force is naturally conductible — ^tend- 



COJJsTDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FOECE 291 

ing, normally, to pass through all organisms, and, with- 
out doubt, through all inorganic substances, without pro- 
ducing in them any noticeable effect unless meeting im- 
permeable bodies — ^the general rule will be that its ef- 
fects will appear rarely and exceptionally, although its 
action is regular and constant. 

Here, again, comparison with the electric force is 
imposed. So long as the genius of man did not succeed 
in artificially producing and accumulating electricity, 
electrical phenomena had to be considered as mere acci- 
dents and natural curiosities. To-day we know that 
every physical, chemical, or biological phenomenon in 
existence is in some way associated with the generation 
of electrical force. 

From all sides, then, we are confronted with phenom- 
ena of a cryptoidal nature. 

In the face of these facts, it will be seen how easily 
the objections of academical scientists fall down, when, 
to justify their attitude, they say: ^^These phenomena 
are too capricious and unreliable, too scarce to be 
studied; if an ordinary experimenter cannot reproduce 
and observe them at will, and always in the same condi- 
tions, they are of no avail to science. They are not 
scientific phenomena; and he who pretends to study 
them places himself outside the realm of science. He is 
unworthy the name of scientist." 

This, of course, is a most strange sophism. We would 
cheerfully apply to it the qualification of sophistic lazi- 



292 OUE HIDDEN FOKCES 

nessj if metapliysicians had not already used tlie term to 
qualify another type of error. 

Cannot those who have this mental attitude see that 
the duty incumbent upon science is actually to make 
these phenomena scientific? That is, to discover their 
general and invariable conditions, their determinism? 
Can they not see that science fails to fulfill her mission 
when refusing to study these phenomena because their 
laws do not reveal themselves to them at first sight ? 

The whole question lies in the fact of knowing whether 
or not a phenomenon is real. 

If it is, it matters little whether it be frequent or 
scarce, capricious or stable, normal or exceptional, dur- 
able or not. If the phenomenon exists, it belongs to the 
order of Nature. It is, therefore it exists. 

It is the duty of scientists to discover, if they can, 
the mechanism in virtue of which it is being produced. 
They may rest assured of the fact that when they shall 
have discovered its mechanism, the phenomenon will 
then be a scientific one. 

If the phenomenon allows of human intervention, 
they will be able to reproduce it at will as often and 
as infallibly as they may wish to do so. 

Perhaps they may grumble at Nature because she does 
not do the work for them by placing before them ready- 
made and ready-solved phenomena so as to facilitate 
their observations and experiments. Heading the his- 
tory of electricity, as outlined by Priestley, should be 
sufficient to convince them that their first task should 



CONDUCTIBILITY OF PSYCHIC FORCE 293 

be to render the cryptoidal phenomena easy of observa- 
tion and of experimentation. 

In order to do this, they should endeavor by patient 
study to gain a fuller knowledge of these phenomena; 
or at least they should not excommunicate from Science 
those who seek to do so. 



GLOSSARY 



GLOSSAEY 

Amnesia. Loss of memory. 

Analgesia. Also called Analgia. Insensibility to pain 
in any part of the body. 

Anesthesia. A condition of insensibility to pain, com- 
bined with the loss of the sense of touch. 

Apperception. That art of consciousness in which the 
mind is conscious of perceiving. 

Astral Projection. The action of projecting, by the 
action of the will, consciously or unconsciously, the 
human "double." 

Automatism. The doctrine which assigns all animal 
functions to the active operation of physical laws. 
Automatic action. 

Automatic Writing. Writing without the presence of 
consciousness. 

Cataleptoidal. Of a nature similar to catalepsy. Ap- 
parent suspense of voluntary or conscious sensa- 
tion. 

Cryptoidal. Of a secret or hidden nature. Phenomena 
as yet not explainable through the known laws of 
nature. 

Cryptopsychic. Pertaining to cryptopsychism in na- 
ture. 

Cryptopsychism. That part of psychism still remain- 
ing undefined. The hidden, secret, unfathomed as- 
pect of psychic science. 

Determinism. A system of philosophy which tends to 
define and study the genus, species, quality, char- 
acter of things. 

Dissociation. The act of separating certain psycho- 
logical or psychical elements from the body 
through psychological methods and devices. 

297 



298 GLOSSAEY 

Dynamic. Also kinetic. Pertaining to forces not in 
equilibrium. That branch of mechanics which 
treats of the effects of force in producing or in- 
fluencing motion. 

Effluence. That which flows or issues forth; for in- 
stance, the emanations from the human body and 
particularly from the hands. 

Effluvia. Plural of effluvium. An invisible emana- 
tion. Effluence. 

Efflux. The passing out. The action of passing or 
flowing out and away. 

Empiricism. Observation of facts or phenomena apart 
from scientific knowledge. 

Exteriorization. The act of projecting outside. Ex- 
ternalization. In this book referring to the pro- 
jection out of the body of the motor and sensitive 
forces. 

Fibrillary. That which consists of minute subdivisions 
or fibers. 

Flux. A flow out. 

Hyloscopic. Pertaining to hyloscopy in nature. Hy- 
loscopical phenomena; for instance, the flight of 
cattle before a storm, earthquake, etc. ; the action 
of subterranean currents upon the divining-rod. 

Hyloscopy. The science which treats of the study of 
the phenomena in which matter appears to exert 
upon organic beings — particularly human beings — 
an action inexplicable through its physical or chem- 
ical known properties. 

Hyperamnesia. Beyond the state of amnesia. 

Hyperesthetic. a state and condition of being in 
hyperesthesia, when the imagination, the senses, the 
feelings, are considerably intensified. Extreme 
acuteness of perception. 

Hypnotism. A method of inducing a trance-like sleep. 

Hypothesis. Something assumed for the purpose of 
argument. A theory to explain some fact which 
may or may not prove to be true. 

Hysteria. A state of violent emotionalism. A nervous 
affection. In women often characterized by chok- 



GLOSSAEY 299 

ing sensations, paroxysms of laughter or weeping, 
and frequently simulating other diseases. 

Hystero-hypnotic. An hysterical condition produced 
or emanating from hypnotic manipultaion or hyp- 
notic in nature. 

Ideoplastic. The faculty of thought to give form. So- 
called thought-photographs are ideoplastic in proc- 
ess. 

Ideoplasty. The power of thought in the process of 
giving form. 

Influence. Electrical or magnetic induction. The en- 
ergy or potency emanating from man and tending 
to produce effects insensibly and invisibly in an- 
other. 

Intracortical. Within the cortex, in cortices, or in na- 
ture cortical. 

Intrapolygonal. Belonging to the sphere within the 
polygon. 

Kinesia (Adj. kinetic). Pertaining to or imparting 
motion. 

Kinetics. That branch of dynamics which treats of the 
action of forces in causing or influencing motion. 

Lethargy. The hypnotic state during which the body 
is drowsy, limp, in appearance lifeless. 

Levitation. a series of existing phenomena in which 
material objects appear to be raised in the air with- 
out contact. 

Magic. The so-called art of working by or through the 
agency of unseen forces, supernatural beings, sor- 
cery, witchcraft, enchantment, etc. 

Magnetism. Human and physical, psysiological or ani- 
mal, also organic magnetism. The property which 
is possessed by objects as well as by human beings. 
Attraction or repulsion according to certain physi- 
cal laws. Supposed effluvia emanating from the 
body. 

Metetheric. Of a nature similar to etheric. 

Milieux. The surroundings in which things find them- 
selves. French for ambient. 

Monad. An ultimate atom. A simple primary con- 



300 GLOSSAKY 

stituent of matter. An elementary organism or 

cell. 
Monistic. Pertaining in nature to monads. 
Motor. That which produces motion or power. In the 

human organism, the motor nerve force is that 

which presides over muscular motion. 
MoTRiciTY. A word freely used by French scientists in 

relation to the force or ensemble of forces presiding 

over motion in the human organism. 
Mysticism. The doctrine of the Mystics who professed 

a pure, sublime, and disinterested devotion, and 

who aspired to a more direct communion with God, 

through the inward perception of the mind, than 

is afforded by revelation. 
Neuron. A nerve-cell with its attached fiber. 
Neuropathic. Pertaining to or suffering from nervous 

disease. 
Neurosis. A nervous disease. 
NouMENA. Plural of noumenon, meaning essence. In 

this book, used to denominate the substance, the real 

existing under the phenomenal. 
Occult. Invisible, secret, hidden. 
Omen. A sign of some future happening. To portend 

or prognosticate. 
Ominous. Foreboding evil. Inauspicious. 
Oracle. A prophetic declaration. Among the ancients, 

the response of a deity or inspired priest to some 

inquiry. 
Pantheism. The doctrine that the universe in its 

totality is God. 
Pantheistic. Pertaining to or imbued with panthe- 
ism. 
Paranormal. Phenomena or conditions presenting as- 
pects diverging from the normal. 
Parapsychical. Pertaining to parapsychism. 
Parapsychism. That branch of psychism which has 

lately been born, apart from the empiristic 

psychism of old days. 
Perception. The faculty of receiving knowledge 

through the senses. 



GLOSSAEY 301 

!Pebipheral. Pertaining to the periphery. 

Periphery. The circumference of a circle. The sur- 
face of man's body or his peripheral envelope, the 
skin. 

Perspicacity. Acuteness of sight or discernment. 

Phenomena. Plural for phenomenon. An appearance 
of unusual occurrence. 

Polarity (of human magnetism). The property pos- 
sessed by electrified or magnetized bodies, by which 
they arrange themselves in certain directions or 
tend to given poles. 

PoLYPSYCHiSM. The many forms of psychism: scien- 
tific, unscientific, rational and otherwise, 

PoLYZoiSM, The study of plant-like animals, chiefly 
marine, growing together and produced from one 
individual by gemmation. 

Prophetism. An attitude of mind toward the divining 
of future events. The art of prophecy. 

PsYCHO-DYNAMic, or psycho-kinetic. Pertaining to the 
forces of the human soul and mind. 

Psychology. That branch of science which treats of 
the mind. Mental phenomena, their classification 
and analysis. 

Psychopathic. Pertaining to the emotions and mani- 
festations of the soul, mind, or psyche. 

Psycho-physical. Pertaning to the science of corre- 
lation between mind and matter. 

Psycho-physiological. The science treating of the cor- 
relation of mind and matter; the nerve and circu- 
latory system in particular. 

Rational. Consistent with reason. The opposite of 
abstract. 

Rehabilitate. To restore to a former status; to rein- 
state. To give certain rights formerly possessed. 
Psychism rehabilitated: placed in a position of re- 
spect. 

Sensibility. The state or quality of being sensible. 
Acuteness of perception or emotion; delicacy of 
feeling. 

Sensitive. Possessing keen sense of feeling. Quickly 



302 GLOSSAEY 

and acutely alive to impressions coming from out- 
side. 

Sensitiveness. State or quality of being sensitive. 

Somnambulism. A trance state in hypnosis corre- 
sponding to a period of consciousness wherein the 
subject is capable of acting, moving, speaking, di- 
vining, dreaming, while awake in appearance. 

Spiritism. An accentuated form of spiritualism which 
excludes from psychical phenomena every other 
source of manifestation except from the spirits. 

Spirito-cryptopsychism. That which corresponds to 
the branch of psychism dealing with the problems 
and manifestations of such forces as may be at- 
tributed to discarnate entities. 

Spiritualism. A form of belief based upon the sur- 
vival of the Personality, the Ego, after physical 
death. The study of phenomena supposed to be 
the manifestations of discarnated spirits. 

Subconscious. That layer of consciousness below the 
conscious. The world of unconscious impressions. 

Superstition. False worship or false religion. Ex- 
treme observance of religious rites and ceremonies. 

TEiiEPATHY. The transference of thought from one per- 
son to another by the exercise of conscious or un- 
conscious volition. 

Telepsychism. That branch of psychic science which 
embraces the study of the manifestation of forces 
in man, producing visible effects from and at a dis- 
tance. 

Theory. An exposition of the abstract principles of a 
science or art considered apart from practice. 

Transcendental. Noting that which lies beyond the 
limits of experience or external to the senses or the 
intellect. 

Ultra-violet. Those rays of light beyond the violet re- 
vealed by the spectroscope. 



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